The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of May 14, 2024
Salver
1100s
Diameter: 58 cm (22 13/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1980.179
Location: not on view
Did You Know?
The distinctively horned hats are seen on other artworks of the Ghaznavid period (977–1186).Description
The central subject is an enthroned ruler surrounded by couriers and musicians. The wide border is filled with an elaborately animated Kufic inscription in which the shafts of the letters terminate in human busts, representing musicians and warriors; various animals; and human hands, holding a variety of symbolic objects. This complex inscription has not yet been deciphered; it appears to be in Persian and to contain only benedictory phrases.Around the outside of the rim, an Arabic inscription, in nashki letters, reads: "You elevated one [of God's] creature[s] and he has ruled with good fortune and blessing and happiness and security and felicity and victory."
That the scene does not refer to a specific royal personage but is rather only a representation of the abstract concept of the "Heavenly Banquet" as a symbol of apotheosis indicated by the banner held over the head of the enthroned figure, which actually proclaims this vessel to be "the work of Ibrahim the Decorator [or the Engraver]."
- ?–1980(Pars Gallery of Ancient Art, Ltd., London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)1980–The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1980.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 68, no. 6 (June 1981): 163–219. Mentioned: p. 211, no. 16; Reproduced: p. 184, no. 16 www.jstor.orgHandbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Museum, 1991. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 29 archive.org
- Year in Review: 1980. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 24-July 19, 1981).
- {{cite web|title=Salver|url=false|author=|year=1100s|access-date=14 May 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1980.179