Lot 13
AN EARLY OTTOMAN ENGRAVED BRASS CANDLESTICK
TURKEY, EARLY 16TH CENTURY
Auction: 10 June 2026 from 14:00 BST
Description
cast in two parts, the body of truncated conical form with flanged base and flat drip tray, the neck with globed perforated bulb, the engraved designs on the drip tray and lower body forming wide bands of interlace and arabesque on a ring-punched ground, the upper socket with interlace punctuated by small cintamani motifs
Dimensions
21.5cm high
Footnote
The shape and the inclusion of the simple cintemani decoration at the top of the socket of the candlestick leaves one in no doubt of its Ottoman origins. In addition to the arabesque interlace palette that can be paralleled in bookbindings of the period, these elements place it with certainty into the corpus of decorative objects from Bayezid II's reign (r. 1481-1512).
For a very similar candlestick in the Freer Gallery of Art see Y. Petsopoulos et al, Tulips, Arabesques & Turbans, Decorative Arts from the Ottoman Empire, New York, 1982, no. 22 and for another comparable in the Victoria and Albert Museum E. Atil et al, Islamic Metalwork in the Freer Gallery, Washington D.C., 1985, p. 192, fig. 66.