EGYPT OR THE LEVANT, 12TH/13TH CENTURY

The form of this inkwell relates to those produced in Egypt and Syria around the 14^th century. A similar hinged lid can be seen on a small Mamluk box in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc.no.91.1.531). A similar lid can be seen on a drawing of a Fatimid inkwell which was brought to France by Napoleon’s troops, and of which a drawing survives which is in the Musee des Beaux-Arts, Lyon (acc.no.1988.4.IV.142). An indication that our inkwell has a Mediterranean origin can also be seen in the use of undecorated space around the inscription. This combination of empty space with meander stripes above and below can also be seen on Mamluk basins, such as an example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc.no.91.1.587). The most unusual feature of this inkwell is the fact that the inscription is executed in niello rather than silver: another example with niello inscription, though from Iran, is in the Furusiyya Collection having sold Sotheby’s London, 16 April 1985, lot 104.

The style of the inscription, however, lacks the formality of most 14^th century Mamluk metalwork. It is possible that this is a result of a provincial origin, suggesting that the inkwell was made outside of the main centres of Cairo and Damascus. However, another possible explanation is that it was made slightly earlier, during the Ayyubid period. A talismanic painting in the British Museum which was excavated from Fustat has a similar style of inscription at the top end. Like our inkwell, the inscription includes an ‘infinite knot’ motif (acc.no.1934,1208,0.1). Also in the British Museum is an Ayyubid astrolabe with a brief inscription on the kursi. That inscription is also similar in style to that on this item, with short hooked ra’ and a tendency to stack words on top of one another (acc.no.1880,0308.1). The astrolabe has plates on it correct for Cairo and Alexandria, suggesting an Egyptian rather than Syrian origin.

The poem inlaid into the inkwell praises its work and wishes blessings on its owner. Such ekphrasis is seen on inkwells produced across the Islamic world, from Mamluk Egypt to Seljuk Khorasan (for the latter, see Hana Taragan, ‘The “speaking” inkwell from Khorasan: object as “world” in Iranian medieval metalwork’, Muqarnas 22, 2005, pp.29-44). The same poem is recorded on another penbox in a private collection, published Ludvic Kalus, ‘Écritoires: objets fonctionnels et symboliques indissociables des cérémonies officielles à l’époque mamelouke’, in Frédéric Bauden and Malika Dekkiche, (eds), Mamluk Cairo, a Crossroads for Embassies, Leiden and Boston, 2019, pp. 807 and 814, and another example which was published when it was in the Aron Collection (James W. Allan, Metalwork of the Islamic World: The Aron Collection, London, 1986, p.80, no.5). It was sold in these Rooms, 14 October 2003, lot 30. The inscription on that penbox made reference ot the city of Hama, which became the Ayyubid capital after the Mamluk takeover of Cairo, suggesting that it was made in the rump state of the Ayyubids in 14^th century Syria. The first two lines of the poem appear on an unusual ebony penbox which sold in these rooms, 7 October 2008, lot 46, and was attributed to Norman Sicily or Fatimid Egypt. Both pen cases have heavy bronze hinges with openwork, not dissimilar to those on the present example.