{"product_id":"tinned-copper-two-handled-vessel-repousse-gadroon-bands-and-chased-cartouches-riveted-strap-handles-labelled-made-in-united-arab-republic-a-country-that-existed-only-from-1958-to-1971","title":"Tinned Copper Two-Handled Vessel, Repoussé Gadroon Bands and Chased Cartouches, Riveted Strap Handles, Labelled Made in United Arab Republic — a Country That Existed Only from 1958 to 1971","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eA two-handled vessel in \u003cstrong\u003etinned copper\u003c\/strong\u003e, raised and worked by hand, and stamped on the base with the name of a country that no longer exists.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe body is built in \u003cstrong\u003estepped tiers\u003c\/strong\u003e — a tall collar above a sloping shoulder, then two swelling registers, dropping to a turned pedestal foot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eTwo of those registers carry \u003cstrong\u003ebands of repoussé gadroons\u003c\/strong\u003e: long rounded lobes punched out from the inside so they stand proud of the surface, running the whole way round, with the raised ridge between each pair catching the light.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eBetween and above the gadroons run \u003cstrong\u003elines of domed rivet heads\u003c\/strong\u003e, and the collar is \u003cstrong\u003echased with cartouches\u003c\/strong\u003e in a flowing script-like motif, cut into the metal with a punch rather than cast.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTwo flat strap handles\u003c\/strong\u003e rise vertically from the shoulder, slot through notches cut in the rim, and are \u003cstrong\u003eriveted through at the base with clustered rivet heads\u003c\/strong\u003e set into shaped copper pads.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe surface is two colours, and both are original.\u003c\/strong\u003e Warm copper where the tin has worn through with handling, cool silver-grey where the tinning survives. The result is a mottled, weathered finish that no patina treatment reproduces convincingly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eOn the underside, a printed paper label in Arabic script above Latin lettering: \u003cstrong\u003eMADE IN UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThat label is a dated document, and it dates the vessel to within thirteen years.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe United Arab Republic was the political union of Egypt and Syria, \u003cstrong\u003eproclaimed on 1 February 1958\u003c\/strong\u003e and ratified by plebiscite later that month. It was the high-water mark of Nasser’s pan-Arabism, and it did not hold: \u003cstrong\u003eSyria seceded on 28 September 1961\u003c\/strong\u003e after a military coup. Egypt, however, kept the name for another decade, and only became the Arab Republic of Egypt on \u003cstrong\u003e2 September 1971\u003c\/strong\u003e, the year after Nasser’s death.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eSo a vessel labelled “Made in United Arab Republic” left its workshop \u003cstrong\u003ebetween 1958 and 1971\u003c\/strong\u003e. No style judgment is involved. The country stamped on the base simply did not exist before that date, and did not exist after it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAlmost certainly Cairo.\u003c\/strong\u003e Egypt held the name for ten of those thirteen years, and Cairo’s coppersmiths — concentrated for centuries around the Khan el-Khalili — were the region’s dominant producers of worked copper for both the domestic market and export. A Syrian origin is possible but would compress the window to 1958–1961.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe tinning is not decoration. It is what made copper safe to use.\u003c\/strong\u003e Copper reacts with acidic food and drink, so vessels across the Islamic world were lined and often entirely coated with tin, and re-tinned periodically over their working lives. The \u003cem\u003emubayyid\u003c\/em\u003e, the itinerant tinsmith who went house to house re-coating pots, was a recognised trade into living memory. The worn silver-and-copper surface on this vessel is the visible record of that system: tin laid over copper, and decades of hands taking it back off again.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe repoussé is genuine hand work.\u003c\/strong\u003e Each gadroon was punched out from inside the vessel against a pitch bowl or a stake, one at a time, and the rivets securing the handles were set by hand. The collar shows regular horizontal turning lines, so part of the forming was done on a lathe — which is entirely normal for this period and this trade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThis is offered plainly as \u003cstrong\u003etwentieth-century Middle Eastern copper in a traditional idiom\u003c\/strong\u003e, not as an antique. It belongs to a craft tradition centuries old, made in a country that lasted thirteen years.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003ctable\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eObject\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eTwo-handled tinned copper vessel, hand-raised with repoussé and chased decoration\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eDimensions\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eApproximately 10 in tall by 6½ in at the widest\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eForm\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eStepped tiered body with a tall collar, sloping shoulder, two swelling registers and a turned pedestal foot; two flat strap handles rising through notched slots in the rim\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eDecoration\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eTwo bands of repoussé gadroons punched from the interior; lines of domed rivet heads; chased script-like cartouches to the collar; clustered rivets in shaped pads at the handle joins\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMaterial\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCopper, tinned. The two-tone surface — warm copper where the tin has worn, silver-grey where it survives — is original and not a finish.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMarks\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePrinted paper label to the underside, Arabic script above Latin lettering: MADE IN UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC. No maker’s mark.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eEra\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e1958–1971\u003c\/strong\u003e, fixed by the country named on the label. The United Arab Republic was proclaimed 1 February 1958; Syria seceded 28 September 1961; Egypt retained the name until 2 September 1971. Egyptian origin is the strong likelihood; a Syrian origin would narrow the window to 1958–1961.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eGood, and structurally sound. The vessel stands straight and true on its foot, the body is free of splits, and both handles are firmly riveted with no movement. The repoussé is crisp and undistorted and the chased collar is fully legible. \u003cstrong\u003eThe tinning is worn through across much of the surface\u003c\/strong\u003e, exposing copper beneath — expected, original, and the source of the two-tone finish. There are \u003cstrong\u003esmall spots of green verdigris\u003c\/strong\u003e, chiefly near the handle rivets and on the underside, and a light overall accumulation of age. The paper label is intact and readable with minor edge loss. No dents, no splits, no repairs and no restoration. \u003cstrong\u003eSold as a decorative object only — see below.\u003c\/strong\u003e Condition Guaranteed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eAvailability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eOne of a Kind — 1 Available\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003c\/tbody\u003e\u003c\/table\u003e\n  \u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eCopper is the one metal that behaves like a warm colour rather than a cold one, and this piece has the whole range of it at once.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe worn tinning gives it something a polished copper vessel cannot: two tones at every angle, warm and cool alternating across the gadroons as the light moves. Against oak, walnut, brick, terracotta or dark paint it glows rather than glares, and it will not fight a room the way a bright polished pot does.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe scale is the useful kind. Ten inches is tall enough to hold a console table or a mantel on its own and short enough to sit under a low shelf, and the two vertical handles give it a silhouette that reads clearly from across a room.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIt is at its best with dried material.\u003c\/strong\u003e Wheat, pampas, eucalyptus, bare branches, dried hydrangea, or a single armful of anything tall and architectural. The narrow collar holds stems upright without a frog, and the weight in the foot keeps it from tipping under a top-heavy arrangement.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eEmpty it stands perfectly well as sculpture, which is the more honest use for a vessel that has earned its surface.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eIt also gives a room something most decorative objects cannot: a date and a place. This is not “vintage brass” of no particular origin. It was made in Cairo, in all likelihood, in the years when Egypt and Syria were briefly one country and a great many people believed that arrangement would last. The base says so.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA note on use, and it is the important one. Do not put food or drink in it.\u003c\/strong\u003e The tin lining that once made this vessel safe has worn through to bare copper, and copper leaches into anything acidic — wine, juice, vinegar, tomatoes, coffee. It was made to be re-tinned periodically and it has not been re-tinned in decades. \u003cstrong\u003eThis is a display object now.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eFor the same reason, keep water out of it. If you want fresh flowers, drop a glass or plastic liner inside and never fill the copper directly; standing water accelerates the verdigris and will eventually pit the metal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDo not polish it.\u003c\/strong\u003e The two-tone worn surface is the entire character of the piece, and commercial copper polish will strip what remains of the tinning in a single application and leave you with an ordinary orange pot. That change cannot be undone.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eDust with a dry soft cloth. If the green spots spread, lift them mechanically with a wooden toothpick and a dry brush rather than with any chemical, and keep the vessel somewhere dry — verdigris is a moisture problem, not a dirt problem.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48047355920489,"sku":"VE-0746","price":165.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/045E4EEC-27BB-43C9-BDCC-B1D52CC92105.jpg?v=1789292645","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/tinned-copper-two-handled-vessel-repousse-gadroon-bands-and-chased-cartouches-riveted-strap-handles-labelled-made-in-united-arab-republic-a-country-that-existed-only-from-1958-to-1971","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}