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Extract

Connoisseur 49

Visual and Decorative Arts, Cornucopia 49

This silver goblet was one of more than 600 medieval treasures from Central Asia crowding Bonhams’ elegant rooms in Edinburgh for six days in January. The exhibition Art from the Land of Timur is a first glimpse of a huge private collection hidden who knows where in Scotland. The otherwise austere vessel has Kufic script, inscribed in black niello and divided by floral palmettes, reading: “Khagan Most Illustrious, Lord Victorious Triumphant, Buttress of the State and Righteousness of the Religious Community, Togrul Karakhan, Friend of the Amir of True Believers”.

The goblet, 14cm high, was reportedly found in the Issyk Kul basin in modern Kyrgystan. The Karakhanid dynasty had capitals in Kashgar and Samarkand and ruled over a confereration of Turkic tribes controlling a vast area of Centra Asia from the 9th to the early 13th century.

Coins from Togrul Karakhan’s reign allow the goblet to be dated to 1059–74, when niello was first used to decorate Central Asian silverware. The bowl was clearly a treasured possession, worth 200 dirhams by weight alone. It is the sole example of later-11th-century Karakhanid metalwork to be inscribed with the owner’s name.

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Issue 49, April 2013 Travels in Tartary
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Other Highlights from Cornucopia 49
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  • Crimea: the West Coast

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Good places to stay
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