A MAMLUK SILVER INLAID BRASS BOWL, EGYPT OR SYRIA, EARLY 14TH CENTURY A MAMLUK SILVER INLAID BRASS BOWL, EGYPT OR SYRIA, EARLY 14TH CENTURY A MAMLUK SILVER INLAID BRASS BOWL, EGYPT OR SYRIA, EARLY 14TH CENTURY A MAMLUK SILVER INLAID BRASS BOWL, EGYPT OR SYRIA, EARLY 14TH CENTURY A MAMLUK SILVER INLAID BRASS BOWL, EGYPT OR SYRIA, EARLY 14TH CENTURY A MAMLUK SILVER INLAID BRASS BOWL, EGYPT OR SYRIA, EARLY 14TH CENTURY A MAMLUK SILVER INLAID BRASS BOWL, EGYPT OR SYRIA, EARLY 14TH CENTURY

A MAMLUK SILVER INLAID BRASS BOWL, EGYPT OR SYRIA, EARLY 14TH CENTURY

Reference: ART3005104

A bowl of deep rounded form and lipped rim, decorated around the rim with an elegant silver inlaid benedictory inscription separated by roundels each containing a whirling rosette, foliate scrolls with downward pointing slender palmettes.
Diameter: 28 cm.
Height: 11 cm.

Inscriptions
Around the shoulder in a cursive hand: alternating bands carved in elegant thuluth script and naskh script within floral leafy decoration of three lines of poetry attributed to the famous islamic schaolar Ibn Hanbal. This poetry was mentioned in 'Sifat al-Safwah' by Ibn al-Jawzi and ' Al Dail Ala Tabaqat al Hanabila or The Tail Of The Hanbalite Classes' by Ibn Rajab. The use of inlaid brass became extremely popular during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, being considered an effective alternative to gold and silver, and was patronised widely by the elite classes. This was particularly so in relation to the Mamluk pieces which, as this example's inscription testifies, appear to "...trumpet the social position of their owner so loudly that the vessels seem intended more as vehicles of propaganda than for pleasure and appreciation." (Ward 1993, p.95).

PROVENANCE
Private collection, France