Kovsh with Banqueting Scene

The source for this scene has yet to be identified. A regal figure, seated on an elaborate chair, and several of his bearded companions, are being attended by three servants. One of whom holds a gold chalice with a double-headed eagle on its lid, a second is waiting in the background, and a third prostrates himself at the table delivering a tray and bottle. Placed on the table, which is covered with a cloth embroidered in red with double-headed eagles and pine trees, are a couple of beakers. Beyond the tent, extends a desert landscape suggesting an eastern locale. The miniature is framed in black enamel adorned with tree and mushroom shapes and wire spirals. The remainder of the kovsh's exterior is covered by large cloud berry blossoms in white with brownish edges and checkerboard centers in gray over black circumscribed by a row of triangles in turquoise. Other motifs include trees, spirals, triangles, checkerboard patterns and circles. The treatment of the handle differs in that its edges are decorated with triangular shapes and circles in raised filigree enamel over a plain gilt ground.

Inscription

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Sale, Sotheby's, Geneva, November 18, 1993, Lot 576; purchased by Leo Kaplan Ltd, 1993; puchased by Jean M. Riddell, Washington, D.C., December 11, 1993; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 2010.