This brass torch stand (Mash’al) from Safavid Iran has a flared foot and straight neck. It is decorated with a lattice of trefoil palmette patterns. Like other torch stands of similar form, it is inscribed with bands of calligraphic poetry in the nasta’liq script. It would have been used to light outdoor gatherings at night.Though not yet translated, the poetry on torch stands usually references the function of the object: a Mash’al in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum reads: 'Like a moth, my main concern is with the candle, since, if I move towards it, it burns my wings’. They are essentially verses of Persian mystical poetry, which appear on 15th-century metalwork produced during Timurid rule (1370-1501) and which continued to be used during the Safavid period (1501-1736). The verses often express a desire to be subsumed in the divine, as with the moth who is so drawn to the candle’s flame that he burns his wings. Brassware torch stands from Iran are often decorated with stylised plants and floral patterns, against a hatched ground, typically arranged in bands or panels that match the shape of the object.Mash'al are thought to have reached Iran from India during the 16th century. The earliest dated example is in the Imam Reza Shrine Museum in Mashhad, Iran. An inscription on that object clearly states that it was made by a foundryman in Lahore on October 14 1539, and designed by Iskandar Shukrullah in India.
