Round Cover, Probably for a Box

Description The outside is inlayed with a frieze of blessings in nashki script, and the inside depicts a horseman fighting with an eagle. Seated figures appear along the rim. The nashki script shows beautifully developed human-headed writing. [For more on anthropomorphic letters see Adolf Grohmann, "Anthropomorphic and Zoomorphic Letters in the History of Arabic Writing," Bull. de l'institut d'Egypte, 1958, p. 117-122.]

Provenance Dikran Kelekian, New York and Paris [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [from the Hamadan Treasure]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, January 6, 1925, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1925