2-723-553 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Bath Pail (satl), c. 1580-1610. This pail was made to carry traditional bathing equipment such as combs and a friction glove to the public bath, or hamman. Intended for the faithful’s purification, the hamman was also a meeting place and a center of social life as well as a popular theme with Iranian poets. The poem in the upper band of this pail employs bath imagery to express the Lover’s longing to see the Beloved. In the lower bands, verses by the celebrated poet Jami (died 1492) liken the sense of well-being induced by a visit to the bath to the elation experienced through ascetic detachment.