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拍品专文
While the shape of this bowl resembles that of a multitude of copper alloy bowls from the 13th-15th centuries throughout the Islamic world, the particular proportions, the slightly everted rim with extra protruding lip, and the absence of an original band of decoration below the main inscription make it part of a very small group of bowls from 13th century Syria and the Jazira, the others of which were made for named patrons. These include a bowl dating from the 1220s that is plain except for the band of inscription in the name of Mahmud b. Sinjar Shah who ruled in Cizre in south east Anatolia, now in Berlin (Court and Cosmos, 2016, no.13a, p.64); a bowl made in around the 1240s for Sultan Najm al-Din Ayyub, last ruler of the Ayyubid empire, now in Michigan (Grabar, 2006, pp.3-14) and a bowl made circa 1289-92 for Sultan Qara Arslan b. Il-Ghazi of Mardin in the northern Jazira, now in Doha (Court and Cosmos, 2016, no.8, p.58). The dates demonstrate that this shape continued in popularity throughout the 13th century. The two made for patrons in the far north, the first and last, have a continuous inscription band, but that made for Najm al-Din Ayyub, like the present bowl, has the inscription interrupted by figural roundels.
A late Ayyubid or early Mamluk Syrian attribution is also appropriate for our bowl. Not only is it of the same form and decorative layout as the Najm al-Din Ayyub bowl, but it also has the fleshier thuluth script more typical of the Mamluk period than the more attenuated variant of the earlier period. The posture of the seated figure, with one hand resting on the thigh and the other holding a central wine cup, is “in the traditional posture of a Mesopotamian sovereign” (Baer, 1983, p.262). The ruler in this particular instance has a stronger, more immediately forceful presence than in most examples. Both the stance however, and also the multi-vertical-lobed turban, together with the striped background of the throne, are very close indeed to those of the smaller Mamluk figural bowl made by Ibn al-Zayn, the manufacturer of the Baptistère de Saint Louis, and now also in the Louvre, dating from 1290-1310 (Atil, 1981, no.20, pp.74-5 esp ill p.75). Another seated ruler on striped throne, whose position is even closer to our example, is found on the late 13th century Jaziran or Syrian penbox formerly in the Homaizi Collection and now in the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha (Allan, 2002, no.4, pp.27-28).
A late Ayyubid or early Mamluk Syrian attribution is also appropriate for our bowl. Not only is it of the same form and decorative layout as the Najm al-Din Ayyub bowl, but it also has the fleshier thuluth script more typical of the Mamluk period than the more attenuated variant of the earlier period. The posture of the seated figure, with one hand resting on the thigh and the other holding a central wine cup, is “in the traditional posture of a Mesopotamian sovereign” (Baer, 1983, p.262). The ruler in this particular instance has a stronger, more immediately forceful presence than in most examples. Both the stance however, and also the multi-vertical-lobed turban, together with the striped background of the throne, are very close indeed to those of the smaller Mamluk figural bowl made by Ibn al-Zayn, the manufacturer of the Baptistère de Saint Louis, and now also in the Louvre, dating from 1290-1310 (Atil, 1981, no.20, pp.74-5 esp ill p.75). Another seated ruler on striped throne, whose position is even closer to our example, is found on the late 13th century Jaziran or Syrian penbox formerly in the Homaizi Collection and now in the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha (Allan, 2002, no.4, pp.27-28).