The great Islamic feast has been a recurring feature of life in the Middle East from Muhammad’s conquest until the present. Generally linked to events of special significance – Eid al-Adha, the ‘feast of the sacrifice’ and Eid al-Fitr, the ‘feast of the breaking of the fast’ – feast were, and remain, important occasions for communal gathering and ritual, as well as for traditional practices such as forgiving one’s enemies and distributing alms. Feasts (eid) are contrasted to fasts (sawm). Fasting is considered an act of self-discipline, which brings one closer to Allah and to spiritual fulfilment. The spiritual rewards (thawab) of fasting are said to be multiplied during the month of Ramadan, when fasting is obligatory (fard) for all adult Muslims in good health from sunrise until sunset, with two daily meals (suhur in the morning, and iftar at night) at which families and friends come together. Certain teachings of Islam (hadiths) restrict the sumptuousness of feasts. For example, the hadith book 24 ‘the book pertaining to clothes and decoration’ (Kitab al-Libas wal-Zinah) makes around a hundred references to prohibitions against drinking from gold or silver vessels. But despite this, the looser interpretations of Islam, especially in what is now Iran, enabled extravagance on a scale not seen since Roman times. While, for example, the Qur’an explicitly prohibits the consumption of alcohol (5:90), Persians were noted for their open, even enthusiastic, consumption of wine well into the Seventeenth Century AD, according to the English traveller Thomas Herbert. The elite, at least, prioritised enjoyment over the strict adherence to all Muslim observances.

Islamic tableware was designed for sharing. Huge dishes and chargers were placed in the centre of the table, from which guests could serve themselves. Cups, bowls and other vessels were similarly large, reflecting both the habit for over-consumption and for passing drinks around groups of friends. Drinking was largely done out of footed bowls or goblets, with large apertures. Characteristically, these drinking vessels were made of bronze, as opposed to ceramic, and were often inlaid with precious metals. Perhaps by relying on inlays, it was presumed that these bronze vessels circumvented the hadith on gold and silver cups. The primary decorative scheme was calligraphy, executed in varied and imaginative interpretations of the Kufic style. A strict, angular, almost severe, script, Kufic was the preferred calligraphy for Qur’anic manuscripts; difficult to read, due to the lack of diacritics, the use of Kufic reflects that the Qur’an was learnt by heart. Qur’anic extracts commonly featured on Islamic tableware, especially the shahada, the assertion that ‘there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger’ ('lā ʾilāha ʾillā -llāh', 'muhammadun rasūlu llāh'). But other texts could also be used on these vessels. Commonly, in a Persian setting, poetry, which could sometimes be quite racy, was used. Similarly, common phrases or sayings were featured, alongside valedictory or benedictory references to the current ruler, and expressions of goodwill towards the owner or user of the vessel. Just as at a modern European dinner party, it is common to drink to the health of the guests, at an Islamic feast, the pottery and metalwork expressed the well wishes instead or as well.

This is an extraordinary footed bowl, cup, chalice or goblet – all four designations are used interchangeably in the literature. Dating to the Seljuk Period, a time when metalworking reached something of an apogee. Originally a Turkic Dynasty, the Seljuks, under their energetic first ruler Tughril, filled the power vacuum left by the collapse of the Abbasid Caliphate, and became the dominant power in the Islamic World. Centred on modern Iran, the Seljuk Empire covered some 3.9 million square kilometres (1.5 million square miles) at its height, stretching from Turkey to India. Seljuk Persian metalworking became one of the predominant art-forms of the Islamic territories. This remarkable vessel is made from what is commonly known as ‘white bronze’. Created with a high proportion of zinc and tin, white bronze has a greyer, whiter or generally less red appearance than other forms. Against this dark colour, striking silver inlay picks out the Kufic calligraphy that runs around the rim. The vessel rises from an octagonal foot, a common shape in Seljuk metalworking, presumably due to the facets reflecting the light in aesthetic ways. Rising as a trumpet pedestal, the foot cradles the lower portion of the hemispherical bowl, which is striking in its geometric perfection. A raised circular tondo mimicking the shape of the foot implies that the two were cast as a single piece, rather than being affixed afterwards. Around the rim is a Kufic inscription of extraordinary clarity and quality, with heavy triangular uprights and spindly thread-like horizontals. The inscription is a valedictory one, praising the Seljuk sultan. Which of the short-lived and messy succession of Seljuk sultans from the Twelfth Century AD is referred to is unclear. Following the good wishes for the health of the Sultan, a Persian aphorism: ‘they plan, and fate laughs’ (anha bernamh raza ma kenend w sernewshet ma khended). This phrase, with many parallels in other languages (‘man proposes, God disposes’ [homo proponit, sed Deus disponit] from Thomas à Kempis’ De Imitatione Christi, or Robert Burns’ ‘the best laid schemes of mice and men go oft awry’ from To a Mouse), reflects the insignificance of man’s cognitive world versus the vicissitudes of fate. In reminding those dining, and perhaps the Sultan himself, of their insignificance, contemplation on faith and the universe was encouraged. It is eminently possible that a piece of this quality, and bearing this type of inscription, may have been intended for the Sultan’s own household.

Translation: ‘Happiness, safety, victory, contentment, well-being and survival for him [the Sultan] and the State. And, they plan, and fate laughs.’

References: inlaid footed bowls of this type are known from numerous collections, including New York (Metropolitan Museum of Art 91.1.543), Cleveland (Cleveland Museum of Art 1944.485). The style of this Kufic inscription is paralleled on a footed bowl in Boston (Museum of Fine Arts 38.8).