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Sale: L06220 | Location: London
Auction Dates: Session 1: Wed, 05 Apr 06 10:30 AM
LOT 108
A RARE AND IMPORTANT MAMLUK BLUE AND WHITE ARMORIAL
ALBARELLO, DAMASCUS, SYRIA, EARLY 15TH CENTURY
15,000—20,000 GBP
Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 96,000 GBP
MEASUREMENTS
measurements note
30.7cm. height 17cm. max. diam.
DESCRIPTION
of slightly waisted cylindrical form with sloping
shoulder and short waisted neck with everted rim, on a
broad short foot, decorated in underglaze cobalt blue
with some black outline under a transparent glaze, the
body with a broad frieze with three shield cartouches
enclosing the armorial device of the city of Florence
reserved on a blue ground, each shield regularly spaced
and separated by a floral scroll with a flying bird
between double line borders with minor bands of
meandering floral scroll above and below, the shoulder
and lower body with a narrow band of classic scroll
design, the neck with a further floral scroll including
lotus blossoms and rosettes
CATALOGUE NOTE
This and the following lot are extremely rare
examples of a type of Mamuk pottery produced in
Damascus primarily for the European market. In
this case the inclusion of an armorial shield
that strongly resembles that of the Medici family
and of the city of Florence suggests that these
were part of a specific commission for an
apothecary in the Tuscan capital. Only one other
example of this kind is recorded, in the Musée
des arts décoratifs in Paris (see Lane 1957,
pl.15, and Soustiel 1985, p.233, no.266).
Waisted jars of this type, known in Italy as
albarelli, were a specialised product of Syria in
the Mamluk period and are believed to have been
used to store and transport substances for
medicinal and pharmaceutical purposes. Many found
their way to Europe, especially after 1344, with
the lifting of the papal embargo on trade with
the Mamluk empire (see Ashtor, E.,
"Europäischer Handel in
spätmittelalterlichen Palästina", in B.
Kedar, ed., East-West Trade in the Medieval
Mediterranean, London, 1986, pp.107-126).
There are references in French, Spanish and
Italian inventories of the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries to ceramic vessels de domas,
a la domasquina (Lane 1957, p.17), da Domasco and
alla damaschina (Spallanzani, M., and G. Bertela,
Libro d'inventario dei beni di Lorenzo il
Magnifico, Florence, 1992). There are even
personal records of ownership: for instance, we
know from the Medici archive in Florence that
Piero di Cosimo de Medici owned three alberegli
domaschini. It is tempting, though highly
tenuous, to speculate that the present examples,
which were discovered recently in Italy, may
conceivably have numbered amongst them.
For a fuller discussion of Mamluk pottery, see
Gibbs, E., "Mamluk Pottery",
Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, 63,
1998-9.
Seen on www.Sothebys.com
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ref.
Guide
to Mamluk Art and Iznik
Tile and Plates the O'Connell Guide
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