Sunday, June 20, 2010

Export ban placed by UK on rare Islamic rock crystal ewer


'Pakistan Times' Business & Commerce Desk

LONDON (UK): The British Government has placed a temporary export bar on a rare medieval Islamic ewer carved from a single block of rock crystal. The ewer, or jug, is richly carved and has exquisite gold mounts made in France in the nineteenth century.

The Government's decision follows a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, administered by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA).

The Committee recommended that the export decision be deferred on the grounds that the ewer is of outstanding aesthetic importance and of outstanding significance for the study of Islamic art.
The ewer is one of only nine other complete or nearly-complete Islamic rock crystal ewers known to have survived anywhere in the world.

It was made by an anonymous craftsman, almost certainly in Cairo some time between 970 and 1070 AD, during the Fatimid period (909-1171 AD).

It was carved from a single flawless block of rock crystal, hollowed out to a thickness of only one or two millimetres, and stands 30 cm high.

The design shows a stylised cheetah with a chain around its neck, a symbolic attribute of the Fatimid Caliphs as cheetahs were used for the courtly pastime of hunting. The ewer was a luxury item made for the upper stratum of Fatimid society, which at its height was the richest state in the Mediterranean.

Enamelled gold mounts forming the top, base and handle of the ewer were added in the mid-nineteenth century by Jean-Valentin Morel (1794-1860), a leading French lapidary and jeweller. These mounts enhance the ewer's interest, making it important for illustrating artistic taste in nineteenth-century Europe as well as in the Fatimid court.

The ban will remain enforced till October 27 this year. By that time the Reviewing Committee expects to raise twenty thousand pounds sterling to keep this beautifully crafted work of art in the United Kingdom.

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