Author
Unknown
Publication Date
1600
Publication Place
Iran (made) -
Subject
Metalwork Musical Instruments Islam
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
Height: 14cm, Maximum diameter: 21.5cm
Library
Victoria and Albert Museum
Library Asset ID
1060-1869
Record ID
1060-1869
Library Location
Middle East Section
Date
1600
Notes
The poem on this drum makes it clear that it was used in falconry, an activity restricted to men of the highest rank. The skin stretched over it was 'rosy-coloured'. When beaten, the drum disturbed the birds that were to be the falcons' prey. The swirling bands on the body each contain a different pattern. This piece illustrates a new type of brassware with fine, engraved decoration that emerged in Iran around 1550. Human and animal motifs, absent since before 1400, reappeared. Stylised plants and other ornament appeared in relief against a hatched ground, originally filled with a black compound. The decoration was often arranged in bands or cartouches that matched the shape of the object. Poetic inscriptions in the elegant ânastaâliqâ style of Persian calligraphy were also common.
Sample Text
NoteHemistichs from a mystical poem with an interplay of meanings are calligraphed innasta aliq. They refer to the hawking drum and its musical theme. Translations from A.S. Melikian-Chirvani.Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World: 8th- 18th Centuries. (London, 1982), If the beat of thy hawking drum O King (?) reaches its ears / The phoenix will shy from Mount Qaf, 'twill fall from its eyrie, O Lord, may they health be lastingly perfect / May an auspicious fate, good fortune and exalted position be yours everlastingly, To serve as thy hawking drum O King of the Time / May the Universe provide a golden bowl from the Zenith of the sky / Observe that drum and rose coloured veil / 'Tis like an eye that has become suffused with blood
İlişki
Paris Exhibition, 1867 Husayn Fahmi Cairo
Malzemeler ve teknikler
Cast brass drum with engraved champlevé and black composition filling Brass Engraving Champlevé Niello
Fiziksel açıklama
Cast brass with engraved champlevé decoration, irregularly crossed hatched ground with black composition
Üslup
Safavid
