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Candlestick Base
Persian
Ilkhanid period
1308–09 A.D./ A.H. 708
Object Place: probably Tabriz, Iran
Medium/Technique
Brass with silver inlay
Dimensions
Overall: 31 x 46 cm (12 3/16 x 18 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Edward Jackson Holmes
Accession Number55.106
CollectionsAsia, Islamic Art
ClassificationsMetalwork
This candlestick is the largest to survive from the Ilkhanid period. It was gifted, in 1308-09, to the shrine of the 9th-century Sufi Sheikh Bayazid of Bastam. Ornately decorated candlesticks were often donated to tombs, shrines and other religious buildings, providing both light and spiritual illumination. In this case, the donor was a vizier of the Mongol ruler Uljaytu (r. 1304 - 16) named Karim al-Din al-Shagani. His name appears within cartouches in silver inlaid muhaqqaq script.
DescriptionCandlestick base inlaid and decorated with inscribed cartouches flanked by foliate floral roundels and scrolling leaves. Inscription written in Naskh gives the name of the donor and date.
InscriptionsThe guilty servant, Karim Shugani, donated to the blessed mausoleum of the Sultan of Spiritual Masters, Sultan Abu Yazid, may God sanctify his soul and illuminate his sarcophagus, in one of the months of the year 708 of the hijra (21 June 1308 to 10 June 1309).
Provenance1949, Maurice Stora, Paris; 1950, Mrs. Edward Jackson (Mary Stacy Beaman) Holmes (b. 1875), Topsfield, MA; 1955, gift of Mrs. Edward Jackson Holmes to the MFA. (Accession date: March 10, 1955)