Silver tray, Arabic mark? Need help here...

[Vantlicht]

This silver tray with a dimension of 16 x 19 cm and a weight of 262 gram is marked with only one arabic (?) mark.

I am curious if somebody can tell me more about this one.

Thanks in advance!

[Damon]

Hello Vantlicht

This is Persian

Please see the last comment at viewtopic.php?t=27649

Hope this is of interest

Damon

[Vantlicht]

Thanks Damon!

[Ubaranda]

Hello!
This is a typical Armenian ornament. Many Armenian craftsmen lived and worked in Turkey and used the Arabic alphabet for their marks. I believe that this tray was made by Armenian craftsmen from Turkey (most likely from the Van province).
See the attached scan for a cigarette case from Van province.
Regards.

[Damon]

Hello

Interesting observation about an Armenian connection

There were a number of Armenian silversmiths who moved from Van to Tabriz in northern Iran and and some moved south to Tehran and Isfahan

Please see

https://old.hayernaysor.am/en/archives/157870

https://en.armradio.am/2021/10/13/silve ... in-tehran/

https://hetq.am/en/article/99774

Damon

[Ubaranda]

Hi Damon!
Of course Armenian craftsmen worked in Iran, but do you have examples of products with traditional Armenian ornaments made in Iran?
Regards.

[Damon]

Hello Ubaranda

My apologies for the delay in replying. I don’t know much about the decorative elements of Armenian silverware, so your question prompted some research.

At https://www.fhja.ir/article_243492.html?lang=en there is a 2021 article by Professor Akram Mohammadizadeh, Assistant Professor of Islamic Fine Arts at the Tabriz Islamic Art University titled “Identifying the evolution of designs in the art of engraving on silver in Tabriz” At the link you will find the abstract which is in English as well as access to a pdf version of the article which is in Persian although the illustrations have English captions.

The English abstract is not always clear in meaning but Professor Mohammadizadeh notes, towards the end of the text, that starting in the early 20th century, after the arrival of many Armenian silversmiths in Tabriz “The roots of silver engraving motifs in the first 50 years after the migration of artists were influenced by common motifs in Armenian art (my emphasis added) and Iranian metalwork motifs in the first millennium BC and marginal motifs in the metalwork art of the Islamic period.”

I take from this that Armenian decorative elements were used in Iran by Armenian silversmiths.

Are there examples?

If you look at bottom of page 9 of the pdf there are two examples of design patterns shown – Kandak (engraved or trench) and Zanjil (chain). These seem to be the same two design elements shown on your cigarette case and the Kandak design is featured in the two bands on the tray which was posted at the beginning of this thread. While I can’t translate the Persian text, I imagine that these two designs are illustrated because they are Armenian designs from Tabriz silverware.

Even now there is a contemporary Armenian-Iranian silversmith, Saro Mkrtchian, who employs these design elements in his work. He has a presence on social media and tags his posts in Persian, Armenian and English.

If you google - Persian Tabriz Vige Silver Box – you ought to find on a well-known commercial site, a box which has the Kandak design as its border and has a back stamp of Vige in both Persian and Roman script. The same stamp in Persian appears on the tray which is featured at the beginning of this thread.

In every case I have come across the backstamp Vige (or Vigeh) whether in Persian or Roman script has been attributed to Iran and often to Tabriz. I have not come across a case where Vige appears as a Turkish word or name or is attributed to Ottoman Turkey.

Vige is a Persian word meaning “special” or “premium”. That is not particularly helpful since we would normally expect the backstamp to be the name of a city or of a silversmith. It turns out that Vigeh is also a Persian family name although it appears to be uncommon. In addition, the Persian could also be transliterated into Roman script as Vijeh. There was an Iranian-Swedish silversmith named Mohammad Reza Vijeh carrying on business in Sweden as recently as 2021. I don’t know if he has any connection to the VIGE whose stamp appears on the Tabriz ware.

Could Vige/Vigeh/Vijeh be an Armenian name? I don’t know.

I think that the tray which was originally posted was made in Iran based on the backstamp and it has Armenian design elements. I don’t know if the silversmith was Armenian or not.

Of course, I stand to be corrected on these points and am always happy to learn.

Perhaps someday, a reader of Persian can have a look at the article and offer a more informed answer to your question.

Finally, thank you for pointing out some time ago that the Osep Tokat book on Armenian Master Silversmiths is available online.

I hope you find these comments useful.

Regards

Damon

[Ubaranda]

Hi Damon!
It's great! Thank you very much for the very interesting and useful information!
Kind regards.