Bottle, brownish glass, partly blown in a mold, with applied thread decoration
Iran; 12th-1st half of 13th century
H: 20.7 cm
As was true of ceramics, many new types of glass were developed under the Seljuks, and their craftsmen worked masterfully with the molten mass. The spirals on the body were made by blowing the bottle in a mold. The neck was made separately and attached, with its thread decoration at the bottom and hourglass-shaped mouth at the top. Numerous glass bottles have survived with this distinctive proportion between body and neck, a favorite form among the Seljuks. Manufacture seems to have ceased with the Il-Khanid conquest toward the middle of the 13th century.
Inv. no. 9/1987
Published in:
Sotheby’s, London, 16/4-1987, lot 235;
Kjeld von Folsach: Islamic art. The David Collection, Copenhagen 1990, cat.no. 239;
Stefano Carboni and David Whitehouse: Glass of the Sultans, Corning Museum of Glass, New York 2001, cat.no. 21;
Kjeld von Folsach: Art from the World of Islam in The David Collection, Copenhagen 2001, cat.no. 338;
Jacqueline du Pasquier: Histoire du verre: les chefs-d'oeuvre de l'islam, Paris 2007, pp. 86-87;
Martin Birk Møller: “Glassmaking” in Khaled Azzam (ed.): Arts and crafts of the Islamic lands: principles, materials, practice, London 2013, pp. 254-257;
Linda Komaroff (ed.): Dining with the Sultan: the fine art of feasting, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles 2023, cat. 13c, p. 149;
