ترجمه فارسی

9Base of a candlestick endowed to the tomb of Emam Musa Kazem at Kazemayn, Iraq

Iran, probably Kashan, ca. 1600 Brass, cast and incised H. 4.5 in. x D. 8.9 in. (H. 11.4 cm x D. 22.5 cm) Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, MW.152.1999 Photograph ©︎ Museum of Islamic Art, Doha

The exterior of this elegantly crafted base of a brass candlestick, the upper edge of which has been trimmed, features poetic inscriptions in nastaʿliq in eight cartouches. The verses describe the moth’s attraction to the flame, an allegory common in Persian mythical poetry particularly fitting for an object designed to support a pillar of wax igniting a flame. A waqf (endowment) inscription on the interior indicates its dedication to the tomb of the seventh Shiʿi Emam Musa Kazem (d. 799) at Kazemayn, Iraq (map) (figs. 1-2):

وقف کرد این شمعدانرا اقا ولیخان بن قاسمعلی بآستانه منور مطهر امام موسی کاظم علیه
طمع کننده بلعنت خدا و نفرین رسول گرفتار باد
Aqa Vali Khan, the son of Qasem ʿAli, endowed the splendid, purified Threshold of Emam Musa [al-]Kazem – [may peace] be upon him – with this candlestick. May those who were driven by greed for it [the candlestick] be damned by God and cursed by the Messenger.

Such warnings of removal from the designated property are occasionally found on manuscripts and objects endowed to the tombs of saints during the Safavid period (see, for instance, Bockholt 2022, p. 40, pl. 3). In the case of the Kazemayn candlestick, however, the warning did not work. In 1999, the candlestick entered the collection of the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha (opened 2008) via the Kuwait-based collector Jasem al-Homaizi. There is no provenance record between Iraq and Kuwait, making it difficult to determine when, why, and how the candlestick was removed from the tomb of Emam Musa Kazem and eventually acquired by al-Homaizi.

The endower of the candlestick, Aqa Vali Khan b. Qasem ʿAli, remains unidentified. Its most plausible site of production is Kashan, a long-established center of Twelver Shiʿism and a city where poets had a close relationship with craftsmen. The candlestick is datable to around 1600 based on four factors: its script, the motif of two animals locked in combat, the background design of spiral scrolls filled with diagonal hatchings, and the existence of a comparable brass candlestick endowed to the same shrine in 1007/1598–99 (whereabouts currently unknown).

By around 1600, the Safavid shahs extensively promoted an ‘official’ genealogy allegedly linking themselves to Emam Musa Kazem, a descendant of the Prophet Mohammad, in order to legitimize their status as rulers. It can therefore be suggested that this candlestick attests the endower’s political loyalty to the Safavids through his tangible support of the shrine of Emam Musa Kazem. Alternatively, it may reflect the spread of personal veneration to this Emam, following the Safavid’s promotion of their ‘official’ genealogy.

Located in Kazemayn, a suburb of Baghdad, the shrine of Emam Musa Kazem was one of the first Twelver Shiʿi sites in Iraq that pilgrims from Iran encountered on their land route to Mecca. A fine candlestick like this example would have been presented as a special offering to Emam Musa Kazem by visitors to his tomb seeking his baraka and might have illuminated the sacred area close to the zarih (the screen enclosing the saint’s cenotaph).

Video 1 (silent). Base of a candlestick endowed to the mausoleum of Emam Musa Kazem at Kazemayn, Iraq. ©︎ Museum of Islamic Art, Doha.

Yui Kanda Assistant Professor, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

Citation: Yui Kanda, “Base of a candlestick endowed to the tomb of Emam Musa Kazem at Kazemayn, Iraq.” Catalog entry in The Emamzadeh Yahya at Varamin: An Online Exhibition of an Iranian Shrine, directed and edited by Keelan Overton. 33 Arches Productions, January 15, 2025. Host: Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online.