Base for a Water Pipe (Huqqa) with Irises

Unknown

late 17th century · Zinc alloy; cast, engraved, inlaid with brass (bidri ware) · Islamic Art

This huqqa base, with irises and other flowers, would have originally been fitted with a long stem supporting a brazier and a pipe through which the smoker would have inhaled. Many of the known examples of Indian huqqa bases from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were made in the Deccan region and decorated with the type of metal inlay known as bidri, in which the base metal (a zinc alloy) of the object is darkened through a chemical process to highlight the sheen of the inlaid metal of the floral ornament.

Artist

Unknown

Date

late 17th century

Medium

Zinc alloy; cast, engraved, inlaid with brass (bidri ware)

Department

Islamic Art

Credit line

Louis E. and Theresa S. Seley Purchase Fund for Islamic Art and Rogers Fund, 1984