Need Help Idenifying Middle Eastern Silver Bowl

[ronenros]

Hi Everyone,

I acquired this bowl and brought it to the local silversmith who tested it and determined that it was 800 silver. He's Turkish, so determined that the script wasn't Turkish. We went and saw his neighbor who is Iranian and he said that the style of writing was Persian, but that it was not Persian or Arabic; he thought that it might be Iraqi. We figured that the piece was probably made special for someone of some financial means due to the detailed work on the bowl. My neighbor is Egyptian and she couldn't make sense of it either. The script around the rim is the same as the script around the bottom of the bowl. If anyone has any clue on the origin of the bowl and its intended purpose, please respond. Thanks in advance!
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[kozy845]

If the letters are recognizable as belonging to some kind of Middle Eastern alphabet, can someone figure out how they can be read phonetically? It is possible that the message is in one language transliterated into another. No?

[salmoned]

How nice to have such cosmopolitan neighbors! I suggest taking it to an expert in middle eastern scripts. Also, it's possible the artisan was illiterate and the 'script' is purely decorative.;)

[salmoned]

On the other hand, this could be from India...

[MG]

This looks like a style of Islamic calligraphic writing called Nastaliq. It is used for writing Persian, Urdu and Pashto. In Pakistan, almost everything in Urdu is written in this script. The greatest concentration of Nastaliq usage in the world is therefore Pakistan and my guess would be that the bowl is made in Pakistan or perhaps India where there are a few cities with large Urdu speaking populations.

[Hada]

Hello,
After looking at the piece, the first surmise is that it's Afghanistani or Pakistani as the workmanship is like the kind found there. The language may very well be Urdu.

Regards,
Hada

[alaadin-lamp]

hi,
the bowl is indian with urdu writing on it. age. 1940-1960

[dognose]

Hi Alaadin-lamp,

Welcome to the Forum.

Can you translate the writing for us?

Regards Trev.

[midelburgo]

Good day. This is my first post.

That bowls is Indian in the style of Lucknow

[dognose]

Hi Midelburgo,

Good day to you, and welcome to the Forum,

Do you have any thoughts on what is written on this piece?

Regards Trev.

[admin]

for context, here are a couple of other Lucknow pieces.
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