A MAMLUK SILVER AND GOLD INLAID BRASS INCENSE BURNER BASE

Details

A MAMLUK SILVER AND GOLD INLAID BRASS INCENSE BURNER BASE
SYRIA OR EGYPT, FIRST HALF 14TH CENTURY

Of slightly tapering cylindrical form, a ridge above and below, the sides fitted with a socket for a handle, the underside with a central recessed rosette radiating from a raised flowerhead, the sides with a narrow band of gold-inlaid naskh between bands of dense leafy vegetation and key-pattern roundels, divided into three by the handle socket and two lobed roundels containing palmette vine around a central key-pattern roundel, feathered bands above and below, the underside with a band of similar dense leafy vine around the rosette with lobed motifs, the rim with three panels left plain for the attachment of legs, originally also with pierced cover, almost all the silver remaining, gold now missing, lower edge with slight damages
3 7/8in. (9.7cm.) high

Provenance

Edward Falkener circa 1844, thence by descent

Lot Essay

Inscribed in centre: 'al-maqarr al-'ali al-mawlawi al-amiri al-kabiri al-murabiti al-maliki al-nasiri'.

The noble to whom the vessel was dedicated was in the service of the sultan al-Malik al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qala'un.

The form of this vessel is identical with the base of the magnificent incense burner in the Nuhad es-Said Collection which was made for the owner's sovreign (Allan,J.: Islamic Metalwork -- the Nuhad es-Said Collection, London, 1982, no.15, pp.86-89). The format of the decoration is very similar with a central band of gold calligraphy between panels of silver leafy scrolls. The inscription here is, more unusually, in naskh rather than the thuluth found in the Nuhad es-Said piece. Both share the circular socket for a tubular handle in the side and the indented base with central raised rosette. Both belong to a group of incense burners studied in detail by Aga-Oglu (,M.: 'About a type of Islamic incense burner', Art Bulletin, Vol.27, 1945, pp.28-45).

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