Identifying Oriental Brass Object

Greetings,

I picked up this object at an estate sale. I can identify neither the script nor the figures. No idea if it is an antique or a fake. Has anyone seen anything like it before?

 

Hi and WELCOME, Aryas!! you don't say how large it is, but the figures near the top, look a bit like from India....at least to me.....I've been wrong before too!!! Wait for others offer their opinions!

 

The object measures 29 cm tall, with a top diameter of 10 cm and a bottom diameter of 18 cm.

I am afraid if I rub it the wrong way or utter the wrong syllables I might unleash some eldritch abomination...

 

Can we get a pic of the top and the bottom? Knee jerk reaction was 1970s India .A pedestal for something. I really like it .

 

Welcome Aryas.
Interesting object. It was made in a Persian influenced region, which covers a chunk of Asia. Maybe we can narrow it down when we see more of the item.
The stylized script is puzzling.

You mean like BUPUB?

 

Souvenir deco thing, I’d bet $1000. The text is all fantasy, as is the rest of it. Casting is mediocre. Make a lamp or something out of it.

 

the alphabet reminds me of Armenian.

 

I think it's Devanagari again. I agree it's a pedestal, but I think a fair bit older than the 70s.

 

I don't think it is Devanagari. A Caucasian script like Armenian, like fid suggested, was one of my considerations as well.
There have always been many Armenians in Persia, maybe that is a clue.

 

Here are some more photos of the script and figures. The figures are all different. It is hollow on the inside and open on both ends.

 

It is very similar to this 19th Century Qajar Candlestick / Torch Holder, but the script is still puzzling.

 

Ethiopian would be my second choice.

 

Torch holder makes sense.

 

Could be stylized Armenian, could be stylized Arabic. Some older Arabic scripts can only be deciphered by Islamic scholars.

 

I’m thinking the decoration is fully consistent with the type found on the more common brass trays. I’m guessing these are an outgrowth of the decorated brass tray industry, maybe an attempt to provide a smaller product that tourists would be more likely to buy to carry away or send home. The big brass trays are harder to carry and much more expensive to ship.

 

Those trays normally have much more recognisably Arabic/Farsi type scripts and/or tughras.

 

Can anyone point to one of these trays for comparison?