The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of February 5, 2023

Candlestick

1250–1350

Eastern Anatolia

Sheet brass inlaid with silver

Overall: 24.4 cm (9 5/8 in.); Diameter of base: 21.3 cm (8 3/8 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1951.539

Location

116 Islamic

Description

Candlesticks were a common type of luxury good in the Islamic world during the medieval period. The extensive decoration on this piece is arranged in bands with roundels displaying birds in flight and leaf-like scrolls on a background of hexagonal swastikas. These ancient motifs are thought to have been sun symbols and were sometimes used as a background pattern for metalwork at this time.

Inscriptions

Inscription

none

Provenance
?-1951
(Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1951-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 713 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 209 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 209 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 265 archive.org
Exhibition history

Islam and the Medieval West. University Art Museum, Binghamton, NY, Binghamton, NY (organizer) (April 6-May 4, 1975).

Art of the Islamic World (Islamic art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (May 21, 2021-May 31, 2022).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1951.539