Ceremonial Brass Ewer With Dragon Spouts

Details

Description

There are objects that were never meant to simply hold liquid. They were meant to hold authority.

This hand-crafted brass … Read more There are objects that were never meant to simply hold liquid. They were meant to hold authority.

This hand-crafted brass ceremonial ewer is a collector-grade artifact of Ottoman decorative metalwork tradition, acquired as a vintage piece bearing the natural patina and honest wear of genuine age. It does not pretend to be new. Its darkened surface, its slightly asymmetric gemstone placements, its chain mail draping the belly like a sash, all of it speaks to hands that worked this metal long before it arrived here. This is not a decorative object dressed to look historical. It is historical, and it belongs in a private collection, a curated library, or on the desk of someone who collects with intention.

Height: 39 cm \ 15.3 inches
Width: 39 cm \ 15.3 inches
Depth: 20 cm \ 7.9 inches

Set throughout the body, neck, and crown orb are hand-bezel-set stones in catchy colors: each individually fitted into a raised brass collar and pressed into place. The twin dragon spouts are the most technically demanding element of the piece. Each neck is separately engraved with scale patterns. The open jaw detail, teeth, jaw hinge, nostril, required a craftsman working at jeweler's scale on a vessel-scale object.

A band of hand-linked steel chain mail encircles the mid-body, functioning as a decorative sash, the same mail construction technique used in the finest Ottoman armor tradition, here repurposed as ornament. See less