A PAIR OF LATE 19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY EGYPTIAN OR LIBYAN SILVER ROSEWATER SPRINKLERS
Possibly Cairo, Egypt, or Tripoli, Libya, North Africa, circa 1900

Each of baluster form upon a pedestal stem with a tapering conical circular foot. The curved neck with a screw thread, the terminals formed as a beast’s head langued, the lower sections with three cast vine leaves. The bodies with engraved and turned decoration of flowers and foliage within curved arches. Each marked to the decoration area with a heavily obscured mark in Arabic. (2)

Height – 22 cm / 8.65 inches

Weight – 570 grams / 18.33 ozt

The form of incised decoration is most similiar to the Armenian silversmiths who settled in Egypt, presumably Cairo, to work.

Rose water spinklers of a closely related form are part of the John F Kennedy foundation as a gift of His Royal Highness Crown Prince Hassan as-Senussi before 1962 (MO 63.499c)