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

At a time where European artistic production was turning to earlier Islamic prototypes, the general trend in the nineteenth century Egyptian cultural milieu was a rediscovery of the Mamluk “golden age” following the Ottoman rule (Vernoit, 1997, p. 229). The awareness of this legacy quickly reached Europeans who began collecting arts and artefacts from Cairo, and was catalysed by publications arousing interest in Mamluk artistic production. When such artefacts became harder to obtain, craftsmen and women were called upon in Cairo and Damascus to reproduce these much sought-after artefacts (ibid., pp. 232-238). A variety of objects were produced including Qur'an stands, ewers, cup-holders and trays. The present tray reprises the large thuluth and kufic inscriptions characteristic of Mamluk metalwork.