A LARGE SAFAVID BRASS BOWL WITH ARMENIAN INSCRIPTION New Julfa, Isfahan, Iran, dated 1065 AE (1616) Of compressed globular shape, on a flat base, rising to a flared short neck, the exterior decorated with two bands of engraved motifs, on the body twelve figural scenes interspersed by tall cypress trees, each scene divided in two different bands, possibly highlighting a different chronology, with groups of naively-drawn menkneeling and sitting back on their heels, drawn in three-quarter facing, wearing long robes fastened by belts and broad turbans on their heads,banqueting, horse and elephant-riding, offering animals to a ruler and sharing drinks, in a typical atmosphereofbazmscenes (garden feasting),all against a stylised vegetal ground, on the neck a continuous band of split palmettes and arabesques interrupted by an Armenian inscription, the base with an unfinished row of typical Safavid medallions filled with hares, deer and other quadrupeds, 12cm high and 26cm diam. Provenance: from the private collection of James and Ana Melikian. Inscription:Nour Bek, son of Tasali, 1065 Exhibited and published: Beauty and Belief: Crossing Bridges with the Arts of Islamic Culture, Brigham Young University Museum of Art (February – September 2012) and Indianapolis Museum of Art (November 2012 – January 2013), p. 196; Theo Maarten van Lint and Robin Meyer, Armenia: Masterpieces from an Enduring Culture, Oxford, 2015, p. 210, cat. 75. The shape and the inscription of this brass bowl suggest it could have been used in the Armenian community of Isfahan, possibly during Christian liturgies as a ritual washing basin (Theo Maarten van Lint and Robin Meyer,Armenia: Masterpieces from an Enduring Culture, Oxford, 2015, p. 210). The date recorded in the inscription makes this bowl an extremely early example of Armenian artefactmade in New Julfa, the suburb of Isfahan where Shah Abbas I (r. 1588 - 1629) moved the Armenian community of the South-eastern Anatolian territories in 1604. The honorary title of Bek(or Beg) derives from a former Persian title used for chieftains or princes, and it alludes to the social standing of the owner. Although nothing else is known of him, it is reasonable to speculate that he could have been connected to the semi-independent Armenian melikdoms, to which Shah Abbas I granted a special status with an edict in 1603 and thus, the title and the commission of such a lavish bowl. The almost caricatured nature of the portrayed figures, their features and bazm settingshow a strong degree of affinity with the decoration encountered on a Safavid brass torch-stand, dated early 17th century, illustrated in Assadullah Souren Melikian-Chirvani, Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World 8th - 18th centuries, London, 1982, p. 326, cat. 148.