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Lot Essay
The inscriptions in the cartouches around the centre read:
mimma ‘umila bi-rasm al-maqarr al-‘ali (?) … / al-mawlawi al-makhd[u]mi al-sayfi / janbalat al-maliki al-ashrafi
“One of what was made for the Most High Authority … the lordly, the well-served, al-Sayfi Janbalat [officer of] al-Malik al-Ashraf.”
Some mystery surrounds the mamluk Janbalat, for whom this dish was made. The possibility that Janbalat may be identified with the Mamluk sultan al-Malik al-Ashraf (r. 1500-1), known as al-Sayfi Janbalat prior to his brief reign, has been raised by L.A Mayer (Saracenic Heraldry: A Survey, Oxford, 1933) and later by Michael Meinecke ('Zur mamlukischen Heraldik', in Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Abteilung Kairo, band 28/2, Mainz, 1972). No conclusive evidence for this identification has yet been discovered.
mimma ‘umila bi-rasm al-maqarr al-‘ali (?) … / al-mawlawi al-makhd[u]mi al-sayfi / janbalat al-maliki al-ashrafi
“One of what was made for the Most High Authority … the lordly, the well-served, al-Sayfi Janbalat [officer of] al-Malik al-Ashraf.”
Some mystery surrounds the mamluk Janbalat, for whom this dish was made. The possibility that Janbalat may be identified with the Mamluk sultan al-Malik al-Ashraf (r. 1500-1), known as al-Sayfi Janbalat prior to his brief reign, has been raised by L.A Mayer (Saracenic Heraldry: A Survey, Oxford, 1933) and later by Michael Meinecke ('Zur mamlukischen Heraldik', in Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Abteilung Kairo, band 28/2, Mainz, 1972). No conclusive evidence for this identification has yet been discovered.