The shape of this silver bowl is typical of vessels dated to the thirteenth century and attributed to Central Asia. ‘Depictions of this vessel type indicate that it served as a fruit dish at festive events and the finesse of the engraving as well as the material, silver, indicate that it must have been used in a courtly setting. A very similar bowl, made of bronze, with a cursive gilt inscription running along the rim is attributed to Iran and dated to the thirteenth century. Another one, with comparable shape and also with a cursive inscription running along the rim is in the Muzim-I Rawza in Ghazni.

Central Asia
12th-13th Century

Haase 2007
C.Haase, A Collector’s fortune- Islamic art from the collection of Edmund de Unger, Berlin, 2007

Fehérvári
G. Fehérvári, Islamic Metalwork of the Eighth to the Fifteenth Century in the Keir Collection, London, 1976

Melikian-Chirvani 1982
A.S. Melikian-Chirvani, Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World, London, 1982.