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Lot Essay
The main inscription in three cartouches reads:
Mimma 'umila bi-rasm' al-muqarr al-karim al-'ali al-mawlawi al-amiri al-kabiri al- , 'ali al-ghazi (or al-'adili) al-murabiti al-muthaghiri al-'adili , al-humami al-nizami al-kamili al-saifi Baktamur al-Abu Bakri 'izz nasruhu
(That which was made for his Excellency the noble, the august, the lordly one, the amir, the great, the august, the warrior (or "just"), he who guards the frontier, the just, the hero, the commander, the noble Saif al-Din Baktamur (in the service of Malik Mansur) Abu Bakr, may his victory be glorious).
The inscription in the form of a central roundel is an abbreviated form of the main inscription.
There is one other vessel recorded by Wiet in the name of Baktamur which bears the cup-bearer's blazon; this is a candlestick where the patron is referred to as Saif al-Din Baktamur Saqi (the cupbearer) (Gaston Wiet, Objets en cuivre, catalogue général du musée arabe du Caire, Cairo, 1937, p.196, under no.154). That Baktamur, whose son Shihab al-Din was a great favourite of Sultan al-Malik al-Nasir Muhammad, died in 1333 so cannot be the present patron.
Wiet also mentions a second emir of this name who appears on a foundation stone at Khan al-Ahmar dating from AH 708/1308-9 AD that is in the name of the amir Salar b. 'Abd-Allah (Wiet, op.cit., p.93). He is described as being na'ib of Salar for the province of Syria, Salar himself being viceroy for the entire Mamluk kingdom under al-Malik al-Nasir Muhammad. Again it is unlikely that this Buktamur is the patron of this tray since he was already in a position of responsibility in 1308 and the tray was not made until 1341, although this option is not impossible. A third possibility is given by a Buktamur al-Husami who is mentioned as the father of Jamal al-Din Ibrahim, the patron of a candlestick which is dateable to the middle of the century and is now in the Benaki Museum (Wiet, op.cit., no.235, p.213).
An interesting feature is that Baktamur is described here as al-Saifi, a nisbah borne out by the original engraving on the blazon. Under the prominent cup can be discerned a sword running across the central panel. It can only be assumed that, having commissioned this tray, Baktamur was promoted to the cupbearer's role. It was presumably too late to change the inscription to include the appropriate "al-Saqi", but the point was made in the blazon.
Mimma 'umila bi-rasm' al-muqarr al-karim al-'ali al-mawlawi al-amiri al-kabiri al- , 'ali al-ghazi (or al-'adili) al-murabiti al-muthaghiri al-'adili , al-humami al-nizami al-kamili al-saifi Baktamur al-Abu Bakri 'izz nasruhu
(That which was made for his Excellency the noble, the august, the lordly one, the amir, the great, the august, the warrior (or "just"), he who guards the frontier, the just, the hero, the commander, the noble Saif al-Din Baktamur (in the service of Malik Mansur) Abu Bakr, may his victory be glorious).
The inscription in the form of a central roundel is an abbreviated form of the main inscription.
There is one other vessel recorded by Wiet in the name of Baktamur which bears the cup-bearer's blazon; this is a candlestick where the patron is referred to as Saif al-Din Baktamur Saqi (the cupbearer) (Gaston Wiet, Objets en cuivre, catalogue général du musée arabe du Caire, Cairo, 1937, p.196, under no.154). That Baktamur, whose son Shihab al-Din was a great favourite of Sultan al-Malik al-Nasir Muhammad, died in 1333 so cannot be the present patron.
Wiet also mentions a second emir of this name who appears on a foundation stone at Khan al-Ahmar dating from AH 708/1308-9 AD that is in the name of the amir Salar b. 'Abd-Allah (Wiet, op.cit., p.93). He is described as being na'ib of Salar for the province of Syria, Salar himself being viceroy for the entire Mamluk kingdom under al-Malik al-Nasir Muhammad. Again it is unlikely that this Buktamur is the patron of this tray since he was already in a position of responsibility in 1308 and the tray was not made until 1341, although this option is not impossible. A third possibility is given by a Buktamur al-Husami who is mentioned as the father of Jamal al-Din Ibrahim, the patron of a candlestick which is dateable to the middle of the century and is now in the Benaki Museum (Wiet, op.cit., no.235, p.213).
An interesting feature is that Baktamur is described here as al-Saifi, a nisbah borne out by the original engraving on the blazon. Under the prominent cup can be discerned a sword running across the central panel. It can only be assumed that, having commissioned this tray, Baktamur was promoted to the cupbearer's role. It was presumably too late to change the inscription to include the appropriate "al-Saqi", but the point was made in the blazon.