A LARGE BRASS INLAID HUQQA BOTTLE, DECCAN, SOUTHERN INDIA, 17TH CENTURY

A LARGE BRASS INLAID HUQQA BOTTLE, DECCAN, SOUTHERN INDIA, 17TH CENTURY of globular form, the sides with a register of varied floral bouquets, with scrolling foliate borders above and below, the flared neck with twin projecting ridges and similarly decorated, 20cm high Provenance: Private collection, London. Acquired Galerie Alexis Renard, Paris 2015. Formerly collection of the late Ismail Merchant, sold at Christie's South Kensington, 7th October 2009. The shape, large size and relatively naturalistic decoration of this huqqa are characteristic of bidriware of the 17th century. Brass inlay is rather less common than silver or a combination of the two (see lot xxxxxx); for a smaller example, also inlaid with brass only, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, see Zebrowski 1997, fig.389, p.234 (also https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/453243 )