EGYPT OR SYRIA, LATE 19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Details

A CAIROWARE SILVER-INLAID BRASS KURSI
EGYPT OR SYRIA, LATE 19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY
Of hexagonal cylindrical form on six bulbous feet, the pierced sides with calligraphic roundels and cartouches, the top with further similar decoration organised around a central roundel, within borders of bold script
33 ½in. (85cm.) high

Engraved

On the top of the kursi, around the edge, ‘izz li-mawlana al-sultan al-malik al-nasir al-‘alim al-‘amil al-mujahid al-murabit al-muthaghir al-mu’ayyad al-mansur sultan al-islam wa al-muslimin qa til al-kufrah wa al-mushrikin muhyi al-‘adl fi al-‘alimin mujir al-mazlumin min al-zalimin nasir al-millah al-muhammadiyah nasir al-dunya wa al-din ibn al-sultan al-malik al-mansur qalawun al-salihi, 'Glory to our Lord, the Sultan, al-Malik al-Nasir, the learned, the diligent, the holy warrior, the protector, the defender of frontiers, the supported [by God], the victorious, the sultan of Islam and the Muslims, the extirpator of polytheism and polytheists, the reviver of justice in the worlds, the protector of the oppressed from the oppressors, the victor of the Muhammad nation, Nasir al-Dunya wa’l-Din ibn al-Sultan al-Malik al-Mansur Qalawun, may [God] glorify his victory'
On the top, in the roundel in the middle, in radiating letters, ‘izz li-mawlana al-sultan al-malik al-nasir nasir al-dunya wa al-din ibn al-sultan, 'Glory to our Lord, the Sultan al-Malik al-Nasir Nasir al-Dunya wa’l-Din ibn al-Sultan'

Special notice

This lot will be removed to an off-site warehouse at the close of business on the day of sale - 2 weeks free storage

Brought to you by

Sara Plumbly

splumbly@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2374

Lot Essay

The inscriptions around the body of this kursi are exactly the same as those that feature on an original Mamluk example in the Islamic Museum in Cairo (Gaston Wiet, Catalogue général du Musee Arabe du Caire; Objets en cuivre, Cairo, 1937, pp.14-18, no.139, PLL. I-II). For a kursi very similar to ours see Stephen Vernoit, Occidentalism, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London, 1997, no.178, p.230.

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