Figure of a Mouse in Deep Blue Glass

Later Iranian Glass: 91.1.1554, .1556, .1559, .1575, .1603, .1589

These objects are among a large group of glass vessels colored in various hues of amber, blue, green, and aubergine that survive in several prominent museum collections in the United States and Europe. Their shapes, which include ewers, swan-neck bottles, rosewater sprinklers, small bulbous bottles, and animal figurines, either follow local metal and ceramic models or mimic Venetian glassware.

The swan-neck bottle (91.1.1559), a common type, starts at a concave tip and then turns in the direction of the spiral ribs, gaining volume as it moves downward. The function of such vessels is not known, but according to folklore they were thought to have been used as "containers for tears" (ashkdan) of wives separated from their husbands. Another prominent shape is reflected in the ewer (91.1.1554), characterized by a bulbous, handled body, a spout with a flower, a long, ridged neck, and a flared opening; these vessels also often include applied decorative trails in a variety of motifs. Rosewater sprinklers, whose distinctive shape dates to the eleventh century and earlier, were also widely used at gatherings and celebrations;[1] the present example (91.1.1603) has a milky hue and is minimally decorated.

Dating this group of vessels presents a challenge, for glassmaking in Iran has a long, albeit sporadic, history. Sources mention that glass workshops were active in Shiraz and Isfahan during the reign of Shah ‘Abbas I (1587–1629) and that utilitarian Persian glassware transported wine, rosewater, and pickled fruits to various regions.[2] At the same time, high-quality glassware imported from Venice not only satisfied local demand but also stimulated local production. Safavid album pages and wall paintings feature elegant glass bottles of various shapes, but it is difficult to ascertain whether these vessels were imported or produced locally.[3]

Scholars of Persian glass have suggested that most of the fine glassware in museum collections today, including that in the Metropolitan Museum, was produced in Shiraz in the nineteenth century, an attribution corroborated by sources indicating that glass-manufacturing in Shiraz and Qum continued with wares based on variations of Venetian designs. The forms of these vessels were enduring and influential. The swan-neck bottles, in particular, inspired the artists of the Aesthetic and Art Nouveau movements, including Moore and Louis Comfort Tiffany, whose firm made a swan-neck bottle similar to the one here.[4]

The provenance of this glassware remains a mystery. Although we know that Moore traveled to Europe, we do not have concrete evidence of the sources from whom he purchased this type of glassware. Such objects may have been sold to collectors and agents after their presentation at the various Paris expositions and other international fairs of the 1870s and ’80s and later donated to museums in Europe and the United States.

Maryam Ekhtiar in [Higgins Harvey 2021]

Footnotes:

1. Canby, Sheila R., "The Scented World: Incense Burners and Perfume Containers from Spain to Central Asia." Arts of Asia 42, no. 5, 2012, pp. 119–27.

2. Charleston, Robert J. "Glass in Persia in the Safavid Period and Later." AARP: Art and Archeology Research Papers 5, (June 1974), pp. 12–27; Diba, Layla Soudavar, "Glass and Glassmaking in the in the Eastern Islamic Lands: Seventeenth to Nineteenth Century." Journal of Glass Studies 25 (1983), pp. 187–93.




3. Some of the same forms are also found as cutouts on the walls of rooms of seventeenth-century Safavid palaces such as the ‘Ali Qapu, Isfahan, and the shrine at Ardabil.

4. The bottle is in the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, Winter Park, Florida (66-013). Among Moore’s treasures was a cabinet of early Persian and Arabian glass, which included a group of swan-necked bottles and enameled mosque lamps. Many of these objects were on display and available for direct study in the Prince Street manufactory. See Kerr Fish, Elisabeth l. "Edward C. Moore and Tiffany Islamic-Style Silver, c. 1867–1889." Studies in the Decorative Arts 6, no. 2 (1999), p. 45.

Edward C. Moore (American), New York (until d. 1891; bequeathed to MMA)

Beyazit, Deniz, Maryam Ekhtiar, and Sheila R. Canby. Collecting Inspiration : Edward C. Moore at Tiffany & Co., edited by Medill Higgins Harvey. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2021. no. 124B, pp. 191–92, ill.