A Mamluk silver-inlaid brass pen case

Made from thick brass sheet, of rectangular form with a cover, the interior fitted with a large compartment for pens together with two cylindrical and an arched similar compartiment. The top and the sides decorated with an epigraphic band written in Thuluth script whose text reads: Made for the honourable Excellency, the sublime master, the learned, the just, the warrior (of the frontiers), the defender (of the faith), the masterful, Tabtaq al-Ashrafi.' The name carried by this vessel is linked to Amir Tabtaq, one of the officers under al-Malik al-Ashraf Khalil, who ruled from AH 689–93 / AD 1290–4. Tabtaq was the governor of Qus a city in Upper Egypt, during the third reign of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun (AH 709–41 / AD 1309–40) The underside of the cover with inlaid silver, decorated with three bands containing roundels of flowers and Arabic calligraphy in Thuluth script on geometric motifs. The interior of the body with three large roundels enclosing geometric designs.

Provenance available on request.