Bottle, yellowish glass, with facet- and relief-cut decoration
Iran; 9th-10th century
H: 17.5 cm
The bottle has an “omphalos” (navel) decoration of concave roundels with a central, protruding boss. This distinctive form of decoration was not known in the Sasanian era and seems to have been invented by Muslim craftsmen who further developed Sasanian decorations with rows of facet-cut, circular sections. Omphalos decorations are found in the early Muslim period on glass with a variety of forms, and many glass objects with this decoration have been excavated in Nishapur. It was a simple pattern, made by cutting into the glass on a grinding wheel, but it required considerable practice to achieve a perfect, uniform pattern.
Inv. no. 9/1963
Published in:
Journal of Glass Studies, 12, 1970, fig. 16, p. 173;
C .L. Davids Samling. Fjerde Del : Jubilæumsskrift 1945-70, København 1970, cat.no. 10, pp. 130-131;
André Leth: Davids Samling. Islamisk kunst = The David Collection. Islamic Art, København 1975, pp. 9-10;
Kjeld von Folsach: Islamic art. The David Collection, Copenhagen 1990, cat.no. 215;
Kjeld von Folsach: Art from the World of Islam in The David Collection, Copenhagen 2001, cat.no. 300;
Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom (eds.): Cosmophilia. Islamic Art from the David Collection, Copenhagen, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Boston 2006, cat.no. 44;
