Lot Essay
INSCRIBED:
In four panels on the two frontal plates:
1. bi rasm al-maqarr al-sharif al-'ali
2. al-mawlawi al-amir al-saifi ...
3. naib al-sultana al-sharifiyya al-maliki
4. al-ashrafi al-... (al-ashraf?)
Benedictory and Quranic inscriptions on the back laminae.
This coat of mail is a unique example of its kind. It bears the blazon and titles of Inal al-Ashraf and dates from a period before he became Mamluk sultan of Egypt (AH 857/1453 AD to AH 865/1461). Only one other piece made for a Mamluk sultan is known, a coat of mail made for Sultan Qaytbay (1468-1496 AD), now in the Topkapi Armoury, Istanbul. The present piece was first published by L.A. Mayer in 1943, then part of the well known Pauilhac collection of arms and armour. Apart from one further mention in Mayer's Mamluk Costume (see ref. above) the coat has remained unnoticed by scholars ever since. At the time of publication L.A. Mayer could not identify the blazon of the person to whom the piece had once belonged (L.A. Mayer, 1943, p. 3). Since then new research into Mamluk heraldry has given us the opportunity to ascribe the piece positively.
The attribution of the coat is possible by drawing on both incsription and blazon. Because the area where the personal name of the owner should appear is heavily worn, an identification drawing on the inscription alone is difficult. The blazon is tripartite composed of a cup in the central field, a pen-case above and a lily below. Although it can be identified as the amir blazon of Inal al-Ashraf (Meinecke, Michael: 'Die Bedeutung der mamlukischen Heraldik für die Kunstgeschichte', Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, Supplement II, 1974, (XVIII. Deutscher Orientalistentag), p. 234 and p. 237, fig. 2.), two further users of the blazon have been identified. These are Barsbay al-Sharafi al-Maliki al-Ashrafi and Inal al-Hakim who were both officers of Inal al-Ashraf (Meinecke, Michael: "Zur mamlukischen Heraldik", Mittleiungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Abteilung Kairo, XXVIII, 1972, pp. 271-273). Three components of the titulature mentioned in the inscription, the titles naib al-sultana (provincial governor), al-saifi and al-maliki al-ashrafi (identifying him as a follower of Sultan Barsbay al-Malik al-Ashraf) apply exclusively to Inal al-Ashraf. The use of his titles naib al-sultana and al-saifi can further be supported by Inal's foundation inscription on the minaret of the Katib al-Wilayah Mosque in Gaza where both titles are mentioned (Mayer, L.A.: Saracenic Heraldry, A Survey, Oxford, 1933, pp. 87-88). The Barsbay who bore the blazon did not carry the title al-saifi (abbreviating saif al-din) nor was he a naib (Mayer, Saracenic Heraldry, p. 104). Although Inal al-Hakim was referred to as al-saifi he held the position of atabak al-'asakir in Aleppo (Mayer, Saracenic Heraldry, pp. 88-89). It is possible that Inal al-Hakim held the title naib when he was governor of Malatia (from AH 876/1471 AD until AH 879/1476 AD) but the surviving inscriptions make it clear that he did not call himself al-maliki al-ashrafi as Inal al-Ashraf did. This conclusively identifies Inal al-Ashraf as the owner of our coat of mail. An inlaid bowl made for Saif al-Din Inal in AH 826/1422 AD and published by Gaston Wiet gives further supportive evidence to Inal's personal name and titles (Wiet, G.: "Catalogue général du Musée Arabe du Caire, Objets en Cuivre, Cairo, 1932, p. 226, no. 306).
A Circassian by birth, Inal al-Ashraf was bought as a slave in AH 799/1379 AD, brought to Cairo and sold to Sultan Barquq al-Malik al-Zahir. From there Inal rose steadily through the various ranks in the Mamluk military. The mail coat sheds some light on the Mamluk system of promotion. All high ranking army officers, governors and viceroys had to be first generation immigrant slaves. From the size of this coat it can be seen that Inal would have towered over his contemporaries; it is made for somebody who is approximately 6ft.3in. (194cm.) high.
In AH 836/1428 AD Inal was appointed naib of Gaza. He then took part in Sultan Barsbay's campaign of AH 836/1433 AD against the Aq-Qoyunlu chief Kara-Yülük 'Uthman Beg at Diyarbakir (Amid). After this campaign Inal was made naib of Ruha (Edessa), one of the most prestigious posts in the Mamluk empire. After various other campaigns against the Aq-Qoyunlu and the Knights Hospitaller on the island of Rhodes, Inal returned to Cairo to take up the position of Atabak al-'asakir (or al-amir al-kabir) in AH 850/1446 AD. Inal became Sultan in AH 857/1453 AD and held the office until his death in AH 865/1461 AD.
Inal's coat can be dated to the period between AH 836/1428 AD and AH 850/1446 AD, from the time after Inal's first appointment as a naib and before he assumed the title al-amir al-kabir. Otherwise the latter would have been included in the titulature. Because most of Inal's war activities fall precisely into that period, we may speculate that our coat of mail was actually worn during some of his campaigns. This possibility is strongly reinforced by the location of the areas of wear on the damascening. They are consistent with its having been worn on horseback (the lower front plates are worn where they touch each other when the wearer is bent at the waist). They would also indicate that Inal was right handed, since there is noticeable wear to the upper right proper hand part of the right proper panel, where the mail from the sleeve of the sword arm would have rubbed it, while the comparable place on the left proper panel is almost untouched.
As a type, our coat of mail can be compared to one other known dated specimen. This is the one mentioned above inscribed with the name of the Mamluk sultan Qaitbay (1468-96 AD), looted from Egypt by the Ottoman sultan Selim I after the conquest of Egypt in 1517 AD (see Stöcklein, Hans: "Die Waffenschätze im Topkapu Saray Müzesi zu Istanbul - Ein vorläufiger Bericht", Ars Islamica, I, 1934, p. 213, fig. 10.). Coats of mail (arab. dir') were used in the early Islamic period and handed down from generation to generation. The type represented by ours, with rectangular overlapping laminae, seems to have been used more increasingly from the Mamluk period onwards and under the later Mamluks was reserved almost exclusively for high officials (Mayer, op. cit., 1952, pp. 37-38). Coats of mail of the same type also existed in Iran. A comparative piece from the 15th century belongs to the Nour Collection (Alexander, D.: The Arts of War, Arms and Armour of the 7th to 19th centuries, London, 1992, p. 68, cat. no. 26). Others from Iran with laminae arranged in a comparable manner on both the front and back are in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan (see Museo Poldi Pezzoli: Armeria, vol. II, Milan, 1987, cat. nos. 960, pp. 517-518, pls. 1278-1292 and cat. no. 961, p. 518, pls. 1293-1319). A further piece with noticably similar structure, layout and damascening was made for the Timurid prince Ibrahim Sultan ibn Shahrukh probably in Shiraz around 1415-35 AD (Lentz, T.W. and Lowry, G.D.: Timur and the Princely Vision, Persian Art and Culture in the Fifteenth Century, Los Angeles, 1989, p. 335, cat. no. 31, illus. p. 107). It is worth mentioning that the chain mail of our piece is composed of rings cut out of lengths of wire then soldered together intertwined with rings stamped out of sheet metal resulting in rows of cut and uncut rings.
The steel plates are decorated by damascening gold and silver onto the surface, a technique quite rare to find in Mamluk metalwork. It is achieved by roughening the steel surface and then hammering on the precious metal. This coat is a particularly fine example of this type of work. The decoration is very finely and exactly executed using thicker precious metal than is often encountered. L.A. Mayer calls it, after the Qaytbay example mentioned above, the "second finest Saracenic coat of mail I know" (Mayer, op. cit, 1943, p. 3).
In four panels on the two frontal plates:
1. bi rasm al-maqarr al-sharif al-'ali
2. al-mawlawi al-amir al-saifi ...
3. naib al-sultana al-sharifiyya al-maliki
4. al-ashrafi al-... (al-ashraf?)
Benedictory and Quranic inscriptions on the back laminae.
This coat of mail is a unique example of its kind. It bears the blazon and titles of Inal al-Ashraf and dates from a period before he became Mamluk sultan of Egypt (AH 857/1453 AD to AH 865/1461). Only one other piece made for a Mamluk sultan is known, a coat of mail made for Sultan Qaytbay (1468-1496 AD), now in the Topkapi Armoury, Istanbul. The present piece was first published by L.A. Mayer in 1943, then part of the well known Pauilhac collection of arms and armour. Apart from one further mention in Mayer's Mamluk Costume (see ref. above) the coat has remained unnoticed by scholars ever since. At the time of publication L.A. Mayer could not identify the blazon of the person to whom the piece had once belonged (L.A. Mayer, 1943, p. 3). Since then new research into Mamluk heraldry has given us the opportunity to ascribe the piece positively.
The attribution of the coat is possible by drawing on both incsription and blazon. Because the area where the personal name of the owner should appear is heavily worn, an identification drawing on the inscription alone is difficult. The blazon is tripartite composed of a cup in the central field, a pen-case above and a lily below. Although it can be identified as the amir blazon of Inal al-Ashraf (Meinecke, Michael: 'Die Bedeutung der mamlukischen Heraldik für die Kunstgeschichte', Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, Supplement II, 1974, (XVIII. Deutscher Orientalistentag), p. 234 and p. 237, fig. 2.), two further users of the blazon have been identified. These are Barsbay al-Sharafi al-Maliki al-Ashrafi and Inal al-Hakim who were both officers of Inal al-Ashraf (Meinecke, Michael: "Zur mamlukischen Heraldik", Mittleiungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Abteilung Kairo, XXVIII, 1972, pp. 271-273). Three components of the titulature mentioned in the inscription, the titles naib al-sultana (provincial governor), al-saifi and al-maliki al-ashrafi (identifying him as a follower of Sultan Barsbay al-Malik al-Ashraf) apply exclusively to Inal al-Ashraf. The use of his titles naib al-sultana and al-saifi can further be supported by Inal's foundation inscription on the minaret of the Katib al-Wilayah Mosque in Gaza where both titles are mentioned (Mayer, L.A.: Saracenic Heraldry, A Survey, Oxford, 1933, pp. 87-88). The Barsbay who bore the blazon did not carry the title al-saifi (abbreviating saif al-din) nor was he a naib (Mayer, Saracenic Heraldry, p. 104). Although Inal al-Hakim was referred to as al-saifi he held the position of atabak al-'asakir in Aleppo (Mayer, Saracenic Heraldry, pp. 88-89). It is possible that Inal al-Hakim held the title naib when he was governor of Malatia (from AH 876/1471 AD until AH 879/1476 AD) but the surviving inscriptions make it clear that he did not call himself al-maliki al-ashrafi as Inal al-Ashraf did. This conclusively identifies Inal al-Ashraf as the owner of our coat of mail. An inlaid bowl made for Saif al-Din Inal in AH 826/1422 AD and published by Gaston Wiet gives further supportive evidence to Inal's personal name and titles (Wiet, G.: "Catalogue général du Musée Arabe du Caire, Objets en Cuivre, Cairo, 1932, p. 226, no. 306).
A Circassian by birth, Inal al-Ashraf was bought as a slave in AH 799/1379 AD, brought to Cairo and sold to Sultan Barquq al-Malik al-Zahir. From there Inal rose steadily through the various ranks in the Mamluk military. The mail coat sheds some light on the Mamluk system of promotion. All high ranking army officers, governors and viceroys had to be first generation immigrant slaves. From the size of this coat it can be seen that Inal would have towered over his contemporaries; it is made for somebody who is approximately 6ft.3in. (194cm.) high.
In AH 836/1428 AD Inal was appointed naib of Gaza. He then took part in Sultan Barsbay's campaign of AH 836/1433 AD against the Aq-Qoyunlu chief Kara-Yülük 'Uthman Beg at Diyarbakir (Amid). After this campaign Inal was made naib of Ruha (Edessa), one of the most prestigious posts in the Mamluk empire. After various other campaigns against the Aq-Qoyunlu and the Knights Hospitaller on the island of Rhodes, Inal returned to Cairo to take up the position of Atabak al-'asakir (or al-amir al-kabir) in AH 850/1446 AD. Inal became Sultan in AH 857/1453 AD and held the office until his death in AH 865/1461 AD.
Inal's coat can be dated to the period between AH 836/1428 AD and AH 850/1446 AD, from the time after Inal's first appointment as a naib and before he assumed the title al-amir al-kabir. Otherwise the latter would have been included in the titulature. Because most of Inal's war activities fall precisely into that period, we may speculate that our coat of mail was actually worn during some of his campaigns. This possibility is strongly reinforced by the location of the areas of wear on the damascening. They are consistent with its having been worn on horseback (the lower front plates are worn where they touch each other when the wearer is bent at the waist). They would also indicate that Inal was right handed, since there is noticeable wear to the upper right proper hand part of the right proper panel, where the mail from the sleeve of the sword arm would have rubbed it, while the comparable place on the left proper panel is almost untouched.
As a type, our coat of mail can be compared to one other known dated specimen. This is the one mentioned above inscribed with the name of the Mamluk sultan Qaitbay (1468-96 AD), looted from Egypt by the Ottoman sultan Selim I after the conquest of Egypt in 1517 AD (see Stöcklein, Hans: "Die Waffenschätze im Topkapu Saray Müzesi zu Istanbul - Ein vorläufiger Bericht", Ars Islamica, I, 1934, p. 213, fig. 10.). Coats of mail (arab. dir') were used in the early Islamic period and handed down from generation to generation. The type represented by ours, with rectangular overlapping laminae, seems to have been used more increasingly from the Mamluk period onwards and under the later Mamluks was reserved almost exclusively for high officials (Mayer, op. cit., 1952, pp. 37-38). Coats of mail of the same type also existed in Iran. A comparative piece from the 15th century belongs to the Nour Collection (Alexander, D.: The Arts of War, Arms and Armour of the 7th to 19th centuries, London, 1992, p. 68, cat. no. 26). Others from Iran with laminae arranged in a comparable manner on both the front and back are in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan (see Museo Poldi Pezzoli: Armeria, vol. II, Milan, 1987, cat. nos. 960, pp. 517-518, pls. 1278-1292 and cat. no. 961, p. 518, pls. 1293-1319). A further piece with noticably similar structure, layout and damascening was made for the Timurid prince Ibrahim Sultan ibn Shahrukh probably in Shiraz around 1415-35 AD (Lentz, T.W. and Lowry, G.D.: Timur and the Princely Vision, Persian Art and Culture in the Fifteenth Century, Los Angeles, 1989, p. 335, cat. no. 31, illus. p. 107). It is worth mentioning that the chain mail of our piece is composed of rings cut out of lengths of wire then soldered together intertwined with rings stamped out of sheet metal resulting in rows of cut and uncut rings.
The steel plates are decorated by damascening gold and silver onto the surface, a technique quite rare to find in Mamluk metalwork. It is achieved by roughening the steel surface and then hammering on the precious metal. This coat is a particularly fine example of this type of work. The decoration is very finely and exactly executed using thicker precious metal than is often encountered. L.A. Mayer calls it, after the Qaytbay example mentioned above, the "second finest Saracenic coat of mail I know" (Mayer, op. cit, 1943, p. 3).