User:Gretch16/Bobrinski Bucket
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The Bobrinski Bucket, also called the Bobrinski Kettle or Bobrinski Cauldron (also spelled Bobrinsky), is a bronze bucket manufactured in Herat, present-day Afghanistan in 1163 C.E. (during the month Muharram in 559 A.H).[1] The bucket’s height is a mere 18.5 cm and the bucket consists of a rounded body with a rim and heightened base, with a handle in the shape of real and mythological creatures. The bucket is cast in bronze with copper and silver inlaid decorations and inscriptions throughout the bucket’s handle, rim, and body. The body of the bucket features seven horizontal bands of inlaid decorations, including the rim, consisting of inscription and iconography. Discussion of the purpose of the bucket has sparked speculation among scholars of Islamic Art.[2]
The bucket is named after its former owner, Count Aleksei Aleksandrovich Bobrinsky (1852-1927) and now resides in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.[2] The bucket is one of most famous and earliest pieces of Persian metalwork associated with Herat in the late 12th century and is one of the earliest examples of zoomorphic and anthropomorphic scripts.[3]
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Production
The Bobrinski Bucket is a prominent example of the inlay technique developed in twelfth century Herat. The bucket’s inlaid calligraphy was created using Silver and Copper wire that was laid down in shallow recesses in the Bronze body and hammered down until the wire was firmly inlaid. Similarly, for the spatial inlays, used in larger areas such as the human heads or bodies of animals, a silver or copper sheet was laid over an area where only the edges were trimmed back, and hammered until held well in place.[4] The copper and silver inlays create a multicolored, polychromatic surface for the Bucket.
The division of labor between the caster and decorator of the bucket follows a trend commonly observed in Persian art of the time. Allocating the designing of different elements of the metalwork to multiple people allowed artists to apply their designs to a variety of different objects, rather than only being able to create one object. This, along with the choice to use Persian and Arabic for the inscription solidifies the Bobrinski Bucket as an early and important work showcasing Herat as an important hub of production and craftsmanship, and highlights the emergence of Persian art during this period.
Inscription
The bucket features three bands of calligraphy. The first band of calligraphy is in an anthropomorphic script, meaning that the letters have human features. The second band is an interlaced kufic script with a geometric pattern. The third band consists of anthropomorphic script with the tails of the letters interlaced with running animals[5]. Such anthropomorphic and zoomorphic scripts are commonly found in works from the twelfth century[6]. These bands of inscription along the bucket’s body are written in Arabic. The text consists of well wishes for the owner of the bucket, as is typical for portable Islamic metalwork[7].
The rim of the bucket is inscribed in Persian. The inscription lists the bucket’s caster, Muhammed ibn ‘Abd al-Wāhid and the person who applied the decorative elements to the bucket, Mas’ūd ibn Ahmad. It also describes the person who ordered the bucket, ‘Abd al Rahmān ibn ‘Abdallāh al-Rashīdi, and the person who the bucket was made for, who the inscription refers to as “the eminent hajji Rukn ad-din, the glorious of merchants, the Muslims trusted man, an ornament to the hajj and both holy places Rashid ad-Din Azizi ibn al-Husayn az-Zanjani, may his fame endure”.
A Kufic inscription on the top of the handle reveals the month and year the bucket was completed.
Iconography
Purpose
There is much scholarly debate about the purpose and uses of the bucket. Early scholars such as Richard Ettinghausen and Ralph Harari have hypothesized that the bucket was used as a water bucket, as it exhibits similarities to one exhibited in a fifteenth century painting of a bathhouse.[8] The bucket’s bail handle could have been helpful in a bathhouse setting.[9] The historian Nikolay Veselovsky had asserted that the bucket was a vessel for carrying food; However, the bucket lacks tinning on the interior that would have prevented corrosion from food.[8] Souren Melikian and Robert Hillenbrand have connected the bucket to the Hajj, suggesting that it was either a Pilgrimage accessory or marked the completion of the Hajj, based on the references to this in the Bucket’s inscriptions.[2] Sheila Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom have concluded that the bucket was a gift.[2] Ruba Kana’an’s interpretation of the Bucket’s purpose is most widely accepted in present day scholarship of the Bobrinski Bucket. Kana‘an uses her extensive study of the legal writings of Muslim jurists to better understand the production and patronage of Islamic metalware. She concludes that the bucket was produced as a showpiece of new designs and images that was presented as a gift to the workshop owner.[10]
References
- ^ "The Bobrinski Bucket". Khamseen. 2020-08-28. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
- ^ a b c d Blair, Sheila (2014). Text and image in medieval Persian art. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 78–83. ISBN 9780748655786.
- ^ Blair, Sheila (1998). Islamic Inscriptions. New York University Press. pp. 110–121. ISBN 0814713289.
- ^ Ward, Rachel (1993). Islamic Metalwork. New York: Thames and Hudson Inc. pp. 72–79. ISBN 0500311277.
- ^ "The Bobrinski Bucket". Khamseen. 2020-08-28. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
- ^ "The Bobrinski Bucket". Khamseen. 2020-08-28. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
- ^ "The Bobrinski Bucket". Khamseen. 2020-08-28. Retrieved 2024-05-06.
- ^ a b Ettinghausen, Richard (1943). "The Bobrinski "Kettle": Patron and Style of an Islamic Bronze". Gazette des Beaux-Arts: 193–208.
- ^ Bloom, Jonathan M. BloomJonathan M.; Blair, Sheila S. BlairSheila S. (2009), "Metalwork", The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780195309911.001.0001/acref-9780195309911-e-596?rskey=lybdtb&result=1, ISBN 978-0-19-530991-1, retrieved 2024-05-06
- ^ Kana’an, Ruba (2009). "The de Jure 'Artist' of the Bobrinski Bucket: Production and Patronage of Metalwork in pre-Mongol Khurasan and Transoxiana". Islamic Law and Society. 16 (2): 175–201 – via JSTOR.