A small rock crystal ewer with carved handle, 19th-20th century, in an early 20th century fitted wooden box with orange velvet interior, 7.8cm. highProvenance: Property of a LadyNote: This unusual ewer is a copy of a larger rock crystal ewer in the David Collection, Copenhagen (Inv. no. 27/1999). Like the larger ewer in the David Collection, this ewer has no figurative decoration on the corpus, which has an exceedingly elegant form, protruding like the breast of a bird in the axis of the spout. The Copenhagen rock-crystal ewer belongs to quite a small group that has survived from the Fatimid period. These are luxury items, which according to the 15th-century Egyptian historian al-Maqrizi were found in large quantities in the Fatimid caliphs’ treasuries in Cairo. The treasuries were plundered in the 1060s, after which the ewers that have been preserved soon found their way to European churches, used as exquisite containers for the most precious relics.Please refer to department for condition report