PERSIAN BRASS BOWL WITH ARMENIAN INSCRIPTION AND DATE OF 1616
Large Safavid Brass Bowl with 1616 A.D. Armenian Inscription, (24 cm diam.)
The Armenian inscription reads,”Nour Bek (prince) son of Tasali 1065″(add 551 years which is 1616 A.D.). The date contained on this inscription makes this bowl an extremely early example of an Armenian artifact made in New Julfa, the suburb of Isfahan to which Shah Abbas moved the Armenian merchant community in 1604. This bowl would have been used along with a ewer by the priest for the washing of hands. The design and shape of the bowl are consisteant with other brass bowls made in Iran in the late 1500s to early 1600s.
Professor Nersessian calls it “an absolutely magnificent piece”
