Candlestick, Ljusstake

Cast brass, incised and inlaid with silver. Truncated conical body and candle holder and tall cylindric neck. Its drip tray is partly concave. The body is decorated with four twelvefoil medallions showing riders (warriors) on a background of a floriated scroll. These medallions are linked by a band of knotted bands (inscription?) and are intersected by smaller circular medallions showing musicians. The whole is set against a background of double Y pattern and framed around the foot by a vegetal scroll and around the rim with a plait.
The drip plate is framed by a plait and in the concave part there is an inscription in ornamental kufic interrupted by four circular rosette medallions. The candle-holder is divided in four registers, the two lower ones and the upper one in plain geometrical designs and the central one in ornamental Kufic.

The candlestick is of traditional form. It has a truncated conical base, a shoulder with a depressed inner circle and a projecting rim, and a short cylindrical neck that rises from the centre of the shoulder. However, the solid, conical candle holder decorated with an arabesque seems not to be original. Similar candlesticks show candle holders that repeat the truncated shape of the body. Around the neck is a naskhi inscription over scrollwork. The concave area of the shoulder bears a kufic inscription interrupted by four roundels with rosettes. The inscription is set against a background of scrollwork and is enclosed by a broad twinned band. The body is decorated with four poly-lobed medallions that are linked by a kufic inscription. Above and below this inscription band are eight small roundels showing musicians such as a drummer and lute and harp players. The whole is set against a background of a thickset double-Y pattern. The decoration of the four medallions is dedicated to the hunt. Each of the depicted mounted huntsmen is shown in a different posture. One, turned backwards, attacks a quadruped with a sword carried in his right hand. The next hunter is armed with a crossbow, and the last two are engaged in hunting with a lance. One of them lances a quadruped in front of his horse, the other lances an animal below his horse. All the scenes are set against an arabesque background. The heavily decorated surface of the body is only interrupted by three ribs which separate the main figurative panel from the enclosing narrow bands of geometric and floral patterns. Most of the silver ornamentation that was inlaid in order to contrast the inscriptions, background patterns and figurative depictions with the polished brass is now missing. The bottom of the candlestick is plain.

Source: [https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;se;Mus01;5;en&cp]

How date and origin were established:
The shape of the candlestick, the Y-pattern of the background and the organisation of the design are similar to a candlestick made in Cairo and dated 668 / 1270, now in the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo.

How Object was obtained:
Purchased from the collection of F. R. Martin in 1898.

How provenance was established:
The shape of the candlestick, the Y-pattern of the background and the organisation of the design are similar to a candlestick made in Cairo and dated 668 / 1270, now in the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo.

Source: [https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;se;Mus01;5;en&cp]

Gjuten mässing, inristad och inlagd med silver. Avbruten konisk kropp och ljushållare och hög, cylindrisk hals. Droppbrickan är delvis konkav. Kroppen är dekorerad med fyra medaljonger som visar ryttare (krigare) på en bakgrund av blomsnirklar. Dessa medaljonger är förbundna med ett band av knutna band och är korsade av små cirkulära medaljonger som framställer musiker. Det hela är satt mot en bakgrund av dubbla Y-mönster och inramad runt foten av en växtsnirkel och kring kanten med en fläta.
Droppbrickan är inramad av en fläta och i den konkava delen finns en inskription i ornamenterad kufisk skrift avbruten av fyra cirkulära rosettmedaljonger. Ljusstaken är uppdelad i fyra register, de två nedre samt det övre i enkel geometrisk design och det i mitten, med ornamenterad kufisk skrift.