A MODERN OTTOMAN BALKAN-REVIVAL ELECTROPLATED SILVER TAZA WITH ANIMALS
Possibly England, early 2000s

Of shallow rounded shape, imitating 16th-century Ottoman Balkan taza cups, featuring a central circular convex boss, the silver sheet hammered and chased in relief with a stylised blazon in the centre with intertwined vegetal festoons and bird heads, the base of the boss repeating an ownership inscription in Greek letters reading "the present cup belongs to Theodoris Chatzikostas, in the Year of Arsg Augustus", around the cavetto a frieze of interlocking roundels in-filled with several animals including a double-headed eagle, an owl, a deer, a lion, a dog and many more, the rim stamped with a stylised oval electroplated nickel silver hallmark with a capital B over an M, possibly the British Museum monogram.

11.6cm diameter and 2.8cm high

88gr.

Inscription (Greek): παρούσα κούπα είναι του Θοδωρή Χατζηκώστα. Έτος Αρσγαυγουστουισ.

At a first glance, this cup appears to be a perfectly good example of early Ottoman tazas produced throughout the Balkan territories and Greece. And yet, the hallmark on the rim suggests this cup being produced much more recently as an electroplated imitation of an original, possibly held in a museum's collection. Similar examples are known to have been produced by the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Boston Museum of Fine Art. Regardless of its recent manufacturing, the degree of indebtedness to the original is remarkable: the central boss, often referred to as omphalos, is framed within a Greek inscription denoting its owner and the date of making, giving this modern reproduction an antique keepsake aura.