In a heavenly Persian garden, where flowering trees flourish at the foot of mosques, under a sky populated with large birds in flight, young men seem to praise magnificent young women musicians who water sublime birds... In the center, at the bottom, a squatting, older man is concentrated on reading a work....
Is he declaiming a passage from the famous "Song of the Birds", whose theme of this tray would be an illustration?... This long, mystical and philosophical poem, written at the end of the 12th century by the Sufi poet Farîd-ud-Dîn 'Attâr, tells the story and journey of thousands of birds, guided by the Hoopoe , (besides, isn't that her, on a branch, in the center?) in search of the Supreme Being, through the Simôrgh, a great mythological bird...
This scene, full of grace and poetry , comes to life in relief by the technique of répoussed and the copper/silver contrast, accompanied by an extreme finesse of carving whose details never cease to amaze. From the tips of the leaves to the plumage of the birds, from the grace of the faces to the toilets with different patterns, each detail reveals a very great talent as a carver..., which has not left a signature, unless unless it is very cleverly concealed... in any case, it escaped us...
At the edge of the plateau, separated by interlacing flowering branches, copper medallions are chiselled with birds, antelopes, lions , of hares, alternating with representations of mosques, all different.
The rear has a hanging ring, visibly added later.
Very good condition.
The large size of this magnificent ceremonial tray, and the quality of its production, make it a very beautiful, extremely decorative collector's item.
Length x width = 101 x 74.6 cm; Weight = 6,320 kg