EGYPT OR SYRIA, 1351-54 AD

The inscription reads: al-maqarr al-ashraf al-'ali al-mawlawi al-ma / liki al-'alimi al-'amili al-'adil / ,al-ghazi al-mujahidi al-murabiti al-mutha / ghiri al-mu'ayyadi al-dhukhri al-'awni al-ghiyathi al-huma / mi al-nazami al-kafili al-za'imi al-mushiri al-m / al-makhdumi Qaja amin (sic.) (amir) shikar al-maliki al-salihi, 'The most noble authority, the high, the lordly, the possessor, the learned, the diligent, the just, the conqueror, the holy warrior, the defender, the protector [of frontiers], the one helped (by God), the treasurer-house (of excellence), the help, the succour, the valiant, the order, the viceroyal, the leader, the marshal, the well-served Qaja Master of the Hunt of al-Malik al-Salih'

The name al-Malik al-Salih as it appears on the present bowl can refer to three Mamluk Sultans of the 14th century: al-Malik al-Salih Isma'il (r. 1342-5), al-Malik al-Salih Salih (r. 1351-4) or al-Malik al-Salih known as al-Mansur Hajji II (r. 1382 and 1389-90). A note in the owner's album gives a precious clue in the attribution of our bowl to an amir of the second of these sultans. The note says that the name of Qaja, an amir of Sultan al-Malik al-Salih Salih, appears in the chronicles of Ibn Iyas (1448-1522), the writer of a history of Egypt up to the Ottoman conquest ("vol.1, p.196"). In his Mamluk chronicles, Ibn Iyas mentions Qaja accompanying al-Malik al-Salih with other amirs in an expedition to Damascus in 1353.
The title amir shikar refers to the office of Master of the Hunt. This office appears to be recorded about ten years before Qaja when a Mamluk named Mugultai ibn Sawsun was appointed amir shikar in 1341 (Thomas Philipp, Ulrich Haarmann, The Mamluks in Egyptian Politics and Society, Cambridge, 1998, p. 45). The composite blazon combining a game bird with a sword, the traditional emblem of the silahdar could indicate that the office of amir shikar was possibly hierarchically associated with that of silahdar, armour-bearer, perhaps at a lower grade. The blazon appearing on this bowl has no published comparison but it is however very tempting to see in this association an eloquent way of symbolizing the office of Master of the Hunt.
The lotus blossom splayed in the centre of three of the medallions is reminiscent of Chinese prototypes and decorates several 14th century vessels, whether set within a crowded composition or widely open as in the present example. The fleshy leaves of the scrolls meandering around the blazons, half way between foliage and birds, are similar to those decorating metalwork made around the mid-14th century. Two silver and gold inlaid vessels in the Nuhad es-Said collection, a bowl dated 1346-7 and a wine pourer dated 1347-67 show this pattern (J. W. Allan, Islamic Metalwork, The Nuhad Es-Said Collection, London, 1982, p.98-101, fig.20-21). The five-petalled rosette in a lobed medallion found on the present bowl is also found on a small bowl in the same collection dated to the second reign of Sultan Hassan (1354-61), the direct successor of al-Malik al-Salih Salih (J. W. Allan, ibid , p.102, fig.22).
The extensive catalogue général du musée arabe du Caire published by Gaston Wiet has no record of a brass vessel that can specifically be dated to the four years of the reign of Sultan al-Malik al-Salih Salih (G. Wiet, ibid, Objets en cuivre, Cairo, 1980 reprint). This piece has an important documentary role to play in filling this gap in our knowledge of the Sultan and his amirs. It shows a quality of craftsmanship and elegance of calligraphy as fine as any Mamluk metal bowl. This extremely fine decoration appears on a number of the best brass vessels that can be attributed to the years of very rapidly changing succession in years immediately after the death of al-Malik al-Nasir Muhammad in 1341. An excellent example is the large inlaid brass basin relatively recently acquired by the Freer Sackler National Gallery of Asian Art in Washington D.C. (inv. F2017.12).