of rectangular section, the top of octagonal form with faceted sides and central narrow mouth, relief-cut decoration, standing on short pointed feet.

This glass flask is a copy based on the small group of rock crystal vessels of a similar size and form, whose original function was most likely as containers for perfume and scented oils. However, many found their way into European church treasuries and were adaped as reliquaries for the bones of Christian saints. Those of this particular form are known as molar flasks because their feet are somewhat reminiscient of the roots of a molar tooth. Church inventories and inscriptions on a few pieces allow us to build up a picture of their date of production and subsequent dispersal. Produced at the height of Fatimid power in the late-tenth and early-eleventh century, they were then scattered during the breakdown of law and order in Cairo between 1061 and 1069 and the looting of the royal treasury by Turkish insurgents (Pinder Wilson, R., in Robinson, B (Ed.), Islamic Art in the Keir Collection, London, 1988, p.289). The extent of this vast treasure is documented by the historian al-Maqrizi, who mentions rock crystal in abundance, and the Persian traveller Nasir-i Khusrau who describes seeing rock crystal being worked in the lamp market in Cairo on visits to the city between 1046 and 1050 (ibid., p.189). The existence of a royal workshop is confirmed by the fabulous rock crystal ewers in the Treasury of San Marco, Venice, and the Palazzo Pitti, Florence, as well as the crescent-shaped piece in the Germanisches Museum, Nuremberg, all of which have caliphal inscriptions (ibid., p.290; Contadini 1998, figs. 15-17, pp.18-19).

Condition:  One of the four feet missing otherwise with good iridescence, some deposits remaining.  A rare and very charming example.

Dimensions:   Height:  6.5 cm  (2 1/2 inches)

Provenance:   Private collection of Alex Gordon, NYC thereafter a private Virginia collection.