A very fine solid cast bronze hinged lid having a stylized Rooster finial. The bird stands alertly upright, with incised folded wings and a trefoil tail. This object was probably the lid to an oil lamp or ewer. (72 x 50 mm – 2.75” high x 2'' long)
Islamic Near East - circa 10th - 12th century AD
Attractive bluish green patina, and some surface encrustation. Overall nice condition with minor losses to the lid.
Provenance: ex collection of Arthur M. Sackler (1913-1987), entrepreneur and philanthropist. He endowed the Sackler Gallery of Asian and Near Eastern Art at the Smithsonian Institution.
Rooster headed ewers and lamps had a long tradition in Islamic art. The divine spiritual endowment of the rooster within Islam relates to the words of Muhammad in one of the six canonical hadith collections of Sunni Islam, stating ''when you hear the crowing of cocks, ask for Allah's Blessings for they have seen an angel''.
