Cup decorated with calligraphic ornament and birds from Bol’shaia Anikovskaia

Culture
Khorasan
Date
11th century
Medium
Silver with niello
Dimensions
11 cm diameter; 7.5 cm height
Weight
Form
Cup
Footed
Inscription
Arabic
Graffiti
-
Collection
State Hermitage Museum
FindSpot
Bol’shaia Anikovskaia, Russia

Image credit

Marshak, 1986: № 131.

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Notes on dating, attribution, imagery, or markings

Marshak attributes the vessel to Tokharistan or eastern Khorasan.

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Circling the outer perimeter of the cup is a single register of calligraphic ornament in Kufic (Arabic). The inscription is about prosperity and happiness (Marshak 1976, 160; Darkevich 1976, 30).

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From Bol’shaia Anikovskaia I.

Image Gallery

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Image credit

1: Marshak, 1986: № 131; 2: Darkevich 1976: T. 33,5; 3: Author’s own photograph.

Bibliography

Inclusion in key Eurasian silver publications

Darkevich, V. P. Khudozhestvennyi metall Vostoka VIII-XIII vv.: proizvedeniia vostochnoi torevtiki na territorii evropeiskoi chasti SSSR i Zaural’ia. Moscow: Nauka, 1976.

Marshak, B. I. Istoriia vostochnoi torevtiki III-XIII vv. i problemy kul’turnoi preemstvennosti. Saint Petersburg: Akademiia Issledovaniia Kul’tury, 2017.

Marshak (Marschak), B. I. Silberschätze des Orients: Metallkunst des 3.-13. Jahrhunderts und Ihre Kontinuität. Leipzig: E.A. Seemann, 1986.

Additional Publications

Lunegov, I. A. “Anikovskie klady.” Ural’skii Sledopyt 12/1979 (1979): 35.

Marshak, B. I. “Serebrianye sosudy X-XI vv.: ikh znachenie dlia periodizatsii iskusstva Irana i Srednei Azii.” In Iskusstvo i arkheologiia Irana. Vol. II, 148-173. Moscow: Nauka, 1976.

Otchet Imperatorskoi Arkheologicheskoi Komissii za 1909-1910. Saint Petersburg: Tipografiia glavnogo upravleniia udelov, 1913.