Featured Silver Indo-Persian kohl bottle

Proud owner shows off the latest addition to her kohl bottle collection.
It is an Indo-Persian silver baby, with partial gilding. Some of the gilding is rubbed away, especially on the finial.
The seller thought it was brass, and the price was the same as for a new brass kohl bottle. It tests as silver.
He also thought it was a perfume bottle, he probably never noticed all that black powder jumping out every time you open it.
The pear shape of the body is Persian, but the lotus decoration is Indian. The floral/star shape of the top of the bottle is much like the capitals on Indo-Persian pillars.
The base has received some knocks over the years. That's life.

Height: 12 cm/4.72"

No questions, but any extra info is welcome as always.
Thank you for looking.








The base, the silver is too thick to reshape it, so it will stay this way to show its age.

 

I love your posts. Of course,I have heard of kohl but didn't connect the dots because I didn't know about the bottles. Lovely piece. Very shapely. Many different interesting bits.

 

Stunning!

 

Very pretty, I'd not have recognized this as silver, thanks for the education!

 

What a beautiful piece. I learn something new here every day. Thanks, AJ

 

VERY NICE, AJ!!!!!

 

'Tis a lovely little beauty.

 

lovely!

 

So that's where the expression "black as kohl" comes from, eh?
I learn something every day!

 

Yes, I know, but I appreciate the translation.

Thanks, Kiko.
Kohl containers are not a general field of interest, but they have been around ever since the ancient Egyptians. Kohl containers are mostly found in North Africa and the Middle East and other parts of Asia.
Kohl is seen as protective, both as medicine and against evil. In some schools of Islam it is seen as a religious duty to wear kohl.
Like other objects, the bottles express the culture they are made by, which makes them amazing little testimonies to the diversity and beauty of those cultures. In some countries they are part of a dowry, along with jewellery.
There is so little interest in kohl and the culture around it, that the first specialized book (written by another crazy Dutch lady) was only published last year.
Most kohl bottles are sold as perfume bottles. Many of the ancient glass bottles are called 'tear bottles', after a 19th century romantic notion of capturing a tear shed for a loved one.

 

Thanks guys.

 

Absolutely!

Kohl also comes in other colours, btw. Mostly green, grey and blue.

 

You can be proud of finding and owning this gorgeous bottle!

Aahhh the tale of the "tears containers"
(Must come from the ancient Roman lacrimatorium vessels)

 

Thanks, kyra.

I know!

 

I love it!
My Syrian grandmother had a brass one with an ornate top.
She didn't use it, it was just on her vanity with her perfume bottles.
Me and my sister would play with it and get black stuff all over our hands!

 

Nice! Probably something like this one:

 

Yes, very similar! We couldn't understand how you were supposed to accurately apply it using the end of the wand. What raccoon eyes you might end up with!
I looked a bit on Ebay and so many there are being called 'perfume bottles'. Why are people so uninformed about what they are selling?