During the 9th century, hordes of nomadic Turkic horseman began migrating from the outskirts of the Muslim world towards the middle of Central Asia. By the 10th century, a branch known as the House of Seljuk had arrived into mainland Persia and had settled in the province of Khurasan. Overtime, Seljuks converted to Islam and began adopting the Persian language and culture and by the 11th century, an independent state was created under Tugrul Bey, with Isfahan as their capital, under the auspices of the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad. The arts thrived during the Seljuk period as these Turkic rulers were patrons of culture, the arts, and literature. However, as the Arab caliphate began to disintegrate, Seljuks seized the opportunity to expand their empire westward to the Levant and Anatolia where they frequently came into direct conflict with the Byzantines. In the famous Battle of Manzikert, (1071 A.D.) the Seljuks dealt the Byzantines a decisive defeat, capturing Emperor Romanos Diogenes himself, paving the way for Turkic expansion into Anatolia and thus signaling the decline of the mighty Byzantine Empire. This golden era did not last long though, as increasing waves of clans migrating from the east and pushed westward by the Mongol onslaught, coupled also with Crusader armies arriving from the European west, started to destabilize their empire.The Great Seljuk Empire was then reduced to a series of smaller principalities based in Anatolia, the most prominent and powerful of which was the Sultanate of Rum. The arrival of the Mongols themselves on the Anatolian plateau in the 13th century marked the end of Seljuk independence as they were forced to become vassals to the Mongols. Despite all efforts to maintain the authority of the Sultan in the face of Mongol retreat, the Seljuks completely disintegrated as a political force in the first decade of the 14th century, leaving behind numerous small states most of which remained obscure, except the one led by Osman I and his clan, known as the Ottomans.Large spherical cauldron with ornate free-moving handle; engraved globular body divided into three horizontal registers, the upper one decorated by a long inscription in ornate style, the middle one with round medallions displaying arabesque patterns, the bottom one inscribed in a cursive script. The incised splayed foot has a further band of vertical fluted lines.Metal buckets were common in pre-Islamic cultures of the Middle East and it is likely that their Islamic versions were based on the classical prototype of a tapering cylindrical form, known to have been produced in Egypt. In the past it has been suggested that such vessels would have been used to carry hot water in bath-houses, but the nature of the material (bronze), along with its elaborate decoration and inlays would seem to indicate it being used rather as an ablutions basin for purification.