bucket
- Museum number
- 1958,1013.1
- Description
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Brass bucket; rounded body supported on a separately cast and slightly flaring foot ring with a segmented handle attached to lugs which project upwards from a flat rim and is provided with square projections. The body of the bucket is decorated in three engraved registers. The uppermost of these is framed above and below by narrow bands of copper inlay and contains an Arabic inscription, also inlaid with copper, consisting of benedictory phrases and is set on a traced design of a continuous curling scroll with split and half palmettes. In the middle register twelve roundels are interlaced with framing bands above and below with tight arabesque scrolls between each roundel. Each of the roundels contains a zodiacal sign. The lower register consists of a narrow band of Kufic inscription, again containing benedictory phrases, against a scrolling background and interrupted at twelve points by a circle, each with a small circular depression near the top and probably originally inlaid with copper. There are additional copper inlays on the lip of the vessel framing two panels of guilloche and four circles; two concentric circles of copper inlay exist on the outside base.
- Production date
- 12thC
- Dimensions
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Diameter: 7 inches
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Height: 25.80 centimetres (with handles raised)
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Height: 16.80 centimetres
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Height: 8 inches
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Reading the zodiacal signs from right to left they are: Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, a human-headed bird where Gemini would normally be represented, Cancer, a griffin in place of the normal lion, Virgo (represented by two leafy shoots), Libra, Scorpio, Sagitarius and Capricorn (represented by a combination of caprid and hare).
When acquired the bucket was covered with a thick dark green patina which obscured the decoration. The process of cleaning and conservation is described by R. Organ and D. Bissett in the first publication of this object by R. Pinder-Wilson (1962). The same publication quotes from a technical report by A. E. Werner on its composition and likely age, and includes the observation that the handle has relatively little wear in contrast to the appearance of the rest of the object which had been repaired at a previous date with soft solder being used to attach the foot ring and a patch of different metal added to fill a hole in the body.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1958
- Department
- Middle East
- Registration number
- 1958,1013.1
