Pair of dark blue glass hookah base shaped
vases, of
globular body with golden decoration in
the form of spirals.
A hookah is a single or multi-stemmed
instrument for vaporizing and smoking
flavored tobacco whose vapor or smoke is
passed through a water basin—often
glass-based—before inhalation.
There are two theories regarding the origin
of the hookah, the first attributing its
origins at the court of the Persian Safavid
dynasty (1501-1736) from where it
eventually spread towards the east and
into the Indian subcontinent. The second
theory claims that it was invented by Abu’l-
Fath Gilani, an Iranian savant who was also
physician at the royal court of the Mughal
emperor Akbar (1542-1605). The hookah
or Argyleh as it is also known, soon
reached Egypt and the Levant during the
Ottoman period from the neighbouring
Persia, where it became extremely popular
and where its components and structure
were later perfected.
- (CB.2859)
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