Bath Pail (Satl)
c. 1580–1610
Maker Unknown
Islamic Art
Bath Pail (Satl), c. 1580–1610. Iran, Isfahan, Safavid period (1501-1722). Cast brass, turned, engraved, inlaid with black compound (niello); overall: 17 cm (6 11/16 in.); diameter of base: 11 cm (4 5/16 in.); diameter of rim: 16.8 cm (6 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Rosenberg & Stiebel, Inc. 1969.291 Three animal motifs are repeated within the geometric interlacing: a doe with its head turned backward; a water fowl; and a horned animal, possibly an ibex.
- Maker/Artist
- Maker Unknown
- Classification
- Metalwork
- Formatted Medium
- cast brass, turned, engraved, inlaid with black compound (niello)
- Dimensions
- Overall: 17 cm (6 11/16 in.); Diameter of base: 11 cm (4 5/16 in.); Diameter of rim: 16.8 cm (6 5/8 in.)
- Inscribed
- Inscription: Upper band: At the breath of dawn [my Beloved] came from her house toward the Bath,/ A thousand hearts became dust on the road beneath her steps./ From seeing Your face, the bath-house day and night/ [Has] a thousand colored eyes on the door and ceiling./ As soon as my Moon [-faced Beloved] comes into the Bath,/ My eye becomes this bathing cup, and by eyebrow its handle. Remark: The inscriptions on the pail are in the curvilinear script known as nasta'liq. Inscription: Lower band: I remember an old master saying in the Bathhouse:/ One day a young person asked of an old man:/ "What is the secret that makes anyone who sets foot in the bathhouse,/ Find his saddened heart opened up to joy?"/ He said: "The secret is that the bather has nothing of the trappings of this world/ But a bathing-bowl and towel -- and even those belong to others. Remark: Persian verses about Bathing
- Departments
- Islamic Art
- Accession Number
- 1969.291
- Credit Line
- Gift of Rosenberg & Stiebel, Inc.
- Rights Statement
- CC0
- Museum Location
- 116 Islamic
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