Cauldron

This bronze kettle richly embellished with silver and copper inlay work is one of the most famous objects created by the craftsmen of pre-Mongol Iran. It became known as the “Bobrinsky kettle” from the surname of its first Russian owner – Count Alexei Alexandrovich Bobrinsky. The vessel gained prominence due to the important historical information contained in the Arabic well-wishing inscriptions in the Naskh and Kufic scripts that adorn it. A date is placed on the handle – the month of Moharram in the year 559 AH, which corresponds to December 1163 AD in the Christian calendar. The inscription running around the rim reveals that the kettle was created by two craftsmen, one of whom was probably the founder who cast it, the second the artist who did the inlaying. It also indicates the place where the piece was made – the city of Herat, then in north-eastern Iran. It is curious that the inscription mentions not only the name of the man who commissioned it, but also the name of its owner: to all appearances, the kettle, which has the functional form of a small wash-basin, was actually intended as a commemorative gift and was never used for such a prosaic purpose.