Matthew Thomas
Senior Specialist
Lot 20
An unusual Khorasan bronze Figurine in the form of a Bird Persia, 12th Century(2)
8 October 2013, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street£25,000 - £35,000
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An unusual Khorasan bronze Figurine in the form of a Bird
Persia, 12th Century
Persia, 12th Century
of stylised form with elongated neck, on a slightly flaring, drop-shaped foot, lightly carved with some naturalistic detailing, including concentric circles around the eyes and lobed motifs around the tail, the beak and tail with openings; with associated drop-shaped bronze Dish
the bird 17.8 cm. high; the dish 15.5 cm. long(2)
the bird 17.8 cm. high; the dish 15.5 cm. long(2)
Footnotes
This bronze figurine of a bird was possibly an incense burner or an aquamanile. The bird depicted resembles a stylised goose, with its short wings and elongated beak. Unusually, it does not have legs, but a short tapering tear-drop shaped foot, which matches the outline of the bronze dish in this lot. Unlike other zoomorphic objects of the Medieval period, the surface of the present lot is undecorated aside from the detail around the face and tail.
Comparison can be drawn with an aquamanile in the form of a goose in the Nasser D Khalili Collection, which has similar stylised wings, slightly raised, and an elongated beak (inv. no. MTW 846; Piotrovsky, Mikhail B., and John Vrieze, Earthly beauty, heavenly art, Amsterdam, 2000, p. 231. fig. 207); also in the Khalili collection is a pouring vessel with similar foot, body form and sharply angled tail, attributed to 12th century Khorasan (ibid.,p. 229, cat. no.203).