An Umayyad bronze censer in the form of a horse

Eastern Mediterranean, possibly Syria, 7th/ 8th Century

Footnotes

Provenance
Collection of Charles Gillot (1853-1903), acquired on 21 June 1897 from Stanislas Baron (1824-1908), 28 rue Grange-Batelière, Paris for 150 Fr.
Listed in Charles Gillot's account books where it is described as 'Bronze Egypte Cheval'.
Number 116 in the inventory carried out after the death of Charles Gillot dated 11 April 1903 (located in the 2nd floor gallery of the second floor).
Christie's, Ancienne Collection Charles Gillot, Paris, 4th-5th March 2008, lot 156 (sold as Byzantine).

The use of incense burners is recorded very early in Islamic history, and was almost certainly heavily influenced by their use in Byzantine liturgy. The Caliph Umar (reg. 634-644) is said to have presented an incense burner decorated with human figures to the mosque of Medina. Later, the Abbasid Caliph al-Amin (reg. 809-813) would burn aloes, wood and naad in his reception hall, and according to the historian Al-Mas'udi (circa 896-956), the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma'mun (reg. 813-833) would invite his advisors to perfume themselves with incense before entering his presence at weekly meetings. The practice of perfuming the dining room was also practiced in private houses (see Eva Baer, Metalwork in Medieval Islamic Art, New York 1983, pp. 43-61).

Though the influence of Byzantine art is visible in the present lot, the horse has been rendered in an altogether more stylised manner than examples from the Christian East, such as the Horses of Saint Mark, Venice. Classical influence on our horse is evident in the more naturalistic detailing of the head, ears and bridle, but the sleekly stylised mane which gently tapers from the neck is reminiscent of the treatment of form on an 8th century vessel in the form of a bird now in the Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin (I.5623), and another produced in Iraq and dated AH 180/AD 796-97 in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (IR-1567). Furthermore, the palmette crest on the horse's head is an element of Sassanian Persian influence which would not be found on a Byzantine piece, and introduces the fusion which is so typical of Umayyad art. A Sassanian gilt-silver bowl dated to the 7th Century in the Berlin Museum depicts a horse with a crest (I.4925), whilst an 8th Century Umayyad silver dish sold at Christie's has a frieze of trefoil palmettes around the rim which are comparable to that on the present lot (Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, 5 October 2010, lot 61).

The slender legs of our horse are also closely related to those on a bronze deer attributed to 8th Century Umayyad Persia which was offered at Christie's (Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, 6 October 2011, lot 20), and in both examples, the rear legs curve slightly inwards. The cut openings to the body, in particular those of cruciform shape, can be compared with two Umayyad incense burners dated to the 8th or 9th Century from Umm al-Walid, Jordan, in the Madaba Archaeological Museum (Inv. nos. 666 and 667). Other early Umayyad depictions of horses can be seen in the frescoes of Qasayr 'Amra in Jordan which were painted in the first half of the 8th Century.