Lot 2
A FINE WHEEL-CUT GLASS CUP WITH RUNNING HARES
PERSIA OR CENTRAL ASIA, 9TH/10TH CENTURY
Auction: 09 December 2026 from 14:00 GMT
Description
of colourless wheel-cut glass, the bowl of a slightly flared rounded form on a double-ring foot, the main band around the body with a frieze of running hares with narrow plain bands above and below
Dimensions
8.5cm height, 12cm diameter
Provenance
Formerly in the Private Collection of Dr. Saeed Motamed (1925-2013).
Acquired by the current owner, Christies, The Saeed Motamed Collection – Part I, London, 22 April 2013 Lot 86.
Footnote
The shape and decoration of this bowl are in keeping with a group of cut-glass vessels which are associated with 9th-10th century Khurasan. Among these are a bowl with horses in the Museum für Islamische Kunst (inv. no. I.20/65) and another with falcons and ibexes in the Corning Museum of Glass (inv. no. 53.1.109), both of which were reportedly found in northeastern Iran (Carboni, S., and Whitehouse, D., Glass of the Sultans, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: 2001, p. 176). These share the same technique, stylised friezes of animals bordered with undecorated bands, and slightly flared lips. Another fragmentary bowl of this type with a frieze of hare-like animals is in the al-Sabah Collection (inv. no. LNS 77 G) and has been tentatively dated to the first half of the 10th century (Carboni, S., Glass from Islamic Lands, Thames & Hudson: 2001, pp. 90-91 cat. 22).