Tray with engraved decoration of the mother city lamenting in the middle of ruins, probably Iran, late 19th - early 20th centuryCopper alloy with engraved decoration on the whole of animals evolving in a dense vegetation on which stands out in the center a large poly-lobed cartouche with double appendices decorated with a scene of a woman in meditation in the middle of ruins and surrounded by four portraits of kings in quadrilobed medallions. Several legends engraved in Armenian including the names of kings Aratxias I, Abgar V, Hayk Nahapet, Ashot II. 33.5 x 46.5 cmSlight soiling. Bibliography: "Krikor Beledian et l'" écriture de la Catastrophe "" in Anaïd Donabedian, Siranush Dvoyan, Victoria Khurshudyan (dir.), Krikor Beledian et la littérature arménienne contemporaine, Presses de l'Inalco, 2021 This setting refers to the genre of Lamentations known in medieval Armenian literature as oghb. Inspired by the biblical model of Lamentations inspired by collective catastrophes such as the capture of cities like Edessa or Jerusalem, this genre, which is full of figures of speech, personifies the ruined city itself, representing it in the guise of a weeping woman among the ruins. An Armenian brass tray engraved with an allegorical scene of lamentation, probably Iran, late 19th-early 20th century