Lot Essay
The inscription can be translated:
'Made to the order of our Lord, the Sultan, the King, the sovreign, the conqueror, the expeditious, the wise, the just, he who is assisted [by God], the victorious, Nasir (w')al-Dunya w'al-Din'.
This string of titles is typical of items made for Sultan al-Malik al-Nasir Muhammad b. Qala'un (1299-1341 with two short interregna).
While the spiralling design behind the inscription is more normally associated with Persian rather than Mamluk metalwork, two other examples can be seen, both from the reign of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad (Wiet, G.: Catalogue Général du Musée Arabe du Caire: Objets en Cuivre, Cairo, 1984, no.3937, pp.96-97, pl.XLII (a bowl in the mane of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad), and no.7852, pp.133-134, pl.XL (a basin in the name of Amir Tankiz)).
'Made to the order of our Lord, the Sultan, the King, the sovreign, the conqueror, the expeditious, the wise, the just, he who is assisted [by God], the victorious, Nasir (w')al-Dunya w'al-Din'.
This string of titles is typical of items made for Sultan al-Malik al-Nasir Muhammad b. Qala'un (1299-1341 with two short interregna).
While the spiralling design behind the inscription is more normally associated with Persian rather than Mamluk metalwork, two other examples can be seen, both from the reign of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad (Wiet, G.: Catalogue Général du Musée Arabe du Caire: Objets en Cuivre, Cairo, 1984, no.3937, pp.96-97, pl.XLII (a bowl in the mane of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad), and no.7852, pp.133-134, pl.XL (a basin in the name of Amir Tankiz)).