.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The inscription reads:
Al-maqarr al-karim al-'ali a- , l-mawlawi al-amiri al-kabiri a- , al-'adi[l]i al-mujahid[i] al-mura- , biti al-muthaghiri al-mu'ayyidi (The Honourable Authority, the High, the Lordly, the Great, the Just, the Holy Warrior, the Defender, the Protector of the Frontiers, the one helped by God)
There are various later owners' inscriptions.
On one of the verticals on the lower main band of inscription: Qasim Haqaba(?)
Under the lip, engraved: Imhali(?)
Under the lip, in zigzag: bi-rasm 'Abbas(?)
Under the foot, engraved in the form of a tughra: ..... sahibihi (its owner is) Taqa bint Ibrahim Qafr(?)
Under the foot, engraved: Ahmad
Also, in the same place and style: ?sahha ?ma'uda (exchange is authenticated)
Under the foot, in zigzag: Ahmad ibn al-Qubas(?)
Under the foot, in black ink italic capitals, B F 6
Bronzes of this shape are one of the rarer forms of Mamluk metalwork to have survived to the present day. They are generally thought to have been used as stands for large circular trays, although none has survived with a tray decorated en suite. The decoration of the top rim, but the complete lack of decoration of the interior might also mitigate against this being their use.
The first dateable example of this approximate form is one recently sold in these Rooms, 15 October 2002, lot 134. It was inscribed in the name of the amir Aydamur al-Zardkash and could thus be dated to before 1312 or possibly even before 1300 (for the details please see the note to that stand). Gaston Wiet notes nine examples in all that are dateable through the names of the patrons for whom they were made, the majority appearing remarkably close together in date (Gaston Wiet, Catalogue général du musée arabe du Caire, objets en cuivre, Cairo, 1984, catalogue nos. 129, 134, 203, 208, 234, 245, 267, 268, 273, 274, pp.192-219, see also the details under the entry for no.445, pp.160-161). Apart from the Aydamur stand already noted, the others are dateable to 'before 1335', 'before 1342', 'after 1342', one dated 'mid-14th century', two examples 'before 1363' and two examples 'before 1366'. The present stand is very similar in all details to this main group dating from the middle of the fourteenth century. A number of the other contemporaneous stands are published by John Carswell in an article that is certainly the best summary of the stands known to date (John Carswell, 'An Early ming Porcelain Stand from Damascus', Oriental Art, Autumn 1966, vol. XII, no.3, pp.176-182). Another example not mentioned in any of the other references, and again both very similar to the present example and also dateable to the middle fo the 14th century, either 1342-1345 or 1351-4, was published in 1982 (James Allan: Islamic Metalwork, The Nuhad es-said Collection, London, 1982, no.19, pp.96-7).
Al-maqarr al-karim al-'ali a- , l-mawlawi al-amiri al-kabiri a- , al-'adi[l]i al-mujahid[i] al-mura- , biti al-muthaghiri al-mu'ayyidi (The Honourable Authority, the High, the Lordly, the Great, the Just, the Holy Warrior, the Defender, the Protector of the Frontiers, the one helped by God)
There are various later owners' inscriptions.
On one of the verticals on the lower main band of inscription: Qasim Haqaba(?)
Under the lip, engraved: Imhali(?)
Under the lip, in zigzag: bi-rasm 'Abbas(?)
Under the foot, engraved in the form of a tughra: ..... sahibihi (its owner is) Taqa bint Ibrahim Qafr(?)
Under the foot, engraved: Ahmad
Also, in the same place and style: ?sahha ?ma'uda (exchange is authenticated)
Under the foot, in zigzag: Ahmad ibn al-Qubas(?)
Under the foot, in black ink italic capitals, B F 6
Bronzes of this shape are one of the rarer forms of Mamluk metalwork to have survived to the present day. They are generally thought to have been used as stands for large circular trays, although none has survived with a tray decorated en suite. The decoration of the top rim, but the complete lack of decoration of the interior might also mitigate against this being their use.
The first dateable example of this approximate form is one recently sold in these Rooms, 15 October 2002, lot 134. It was inscribed in the name of the amir Aydamur al-Zardkash and could thus be dated to before 1312 or possibly even before 1300 (for the details please see the note to that stand). Gaston Wiet notes nine examples in all that are dateable through the names of the patrons for whom they were made, the majority appearing remarkably close together in date (Gaston Wiet, Catalogue général du musée arabe du Caire, objets en cuivre, Cairo, 1984, catalogue nos. 129, 134, 203, 208, 234, 245, 267, 268, 273, 274, pp.192-219, see also the details under the entry for no.445, pp.160-161). Apart from the Aydamur stand already noted, the others are dateable to 'before 1335', 'before 1342', 'after 1342', one dated 'mid-14th century', two examples 'before 1363' and two examples 'before 1366'. The present stand is very similar in all details to this main group dating from the middle of the fourteenth century. A number of the other contemporaneous stands are published by John Carswell in an article that is certainly the best summary of the stands known to date (John Carswell, 'An Early ming Porcelain Stand from Damascus', Oriental Art, Autumn 1966, vol. XII, no.3, pp.176-182). Another example not mentioned in any of the other references, and again both very similar to the present example and also dateable to the middle fo the 14th century, either 1342-1345 or 1351-4, was published in 1982 (James Allan: Islamic Metalwork, The Nuhad es-said Collection, London, 1982, no.19, pp.96-7).