Mirror

Mirror

Islamic mirrors are invariably round, but vary in size and form (with or without handle). From the period to which this example belongs, a great many are known of the Chinese type, which has no handle but rather a central perforated knob for the insertion of a cord or ribbon, but the western type, with a long integral handle, is also amply represented.

The pie-faced, puffy-cheeked heads are stylistically typical of the period, and their tricorn hats have analogies in an eleventh-century Ghaznavid high-tin bronze bowl in the Metropolitan's collection and in other objects of the period.

The allover design of the background, in which overlapping circles create a pattern of infinite sexpartite rosettes, seems to have enjoyed a special popularity on mirrors in this period, although its history dates back to the ancient Near Eastern world.

Manuel Keene in [Berlin 1981]

J. Lionberger Davis, Princeton, NJ (until 1967; gifted to MMA)

Berlin. Museum für Islamische Kunst, Pergamonmuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. "The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the M.M.A.," June 15, 1981–August 8, 1981, no. 37.

"Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York." In The Arts of Islam. Berlin, 1981. no. 37, pp. 104–5, ill. p. 105 (b/w).

Baker, Patricia L., and Barbara Brend, ed. "Studies in Honour of Professor Géza Fehérvari." In Sifting Sands, Reading Signs. London: Furnace Publishing, 2006. p. 163, ill. fig. 2 (b/w).