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Lot Essay
Inscription:
In the cartouches around the rim, mimma ‘umila bi-rasm al-maqarr al-ashraf al-‘ali al-ma /al-mawlawi al-sayyidi al-maliki al-makhd[u]mi al-dhukhri/ al-fakhri al-mujahidi al-murabiti al-‘adudi al-‘alimi/ al-‘adili al-fahimi (al-humami?) al-asili ‘azza nasrahu, ‘One of what was made for the most noble officer, the high, the lordly, the masterly, the possessor, the well-served, the treasure [house of excellence], the pride, the holy warrior, the defender, the help, the learned, the just, the intelligent (the valiant?), the high born, may [God] fortify his victory’
Around the body, mimma ‘umila bi-rasm al-maqarr al-ashraf al-‘ali al-mawlawi/ al-mawlawi al-sayyidi al-maliki al-makhdumi al-‘adud[i]/ al-‘adudi al-dhukhri al-fakhri al-mujahidi al-murabiti, ‘One of what was made for the most noble officer, the high, the lordly, the lordly, the master, the possessor, the well-served, the help, the help, the treasure [house of excellence], the pride, the holy warrior, the defender’.
The roundel in the base, al-maqarr al-ashraf al-‘ali al-mawlawi al-sayyidi al-sayyidi al-maliki al-makhdumi al-‘adudi al-dhukhri al-fakhri ‘azza nasrahu, ‘The most noble officer, the high, the lordly, the master, the master, the possessor, the well-served, the help, the treasure [house of excellence], the pride, may [God] fortify his victory’
The titles around the rim of this basin celebrate the many excellent qualities of its anonymous patron. Stylistically, this basin belongs to a group of metalwork made during the waning years of the Burji Mamluks (r.1382-1517 AD). Though the arts of metalwork had fallen into something of a decline since the long reign of al-Nasir Muhammad in the fourteenth century, it was revived in the fifteenth century with the courtly patronage of Sultan Qaitbay (r.1468-96 AD). Once again, brass vessels were made, large in scale and inscribed with courtly epithets. Though these were often inlaid with precious metal, many - like the present lot - never received this treatment (Esin Atıl, Renaissance of Islam: Art of the Mamluks, Washington D.C., 1981, p.53). From the titulature on this vessel, its size, and its quality we can be sure that it made for someone from the elite, perhaps an amir or a member of a noble household. It bears comparison, for example, with a basin made for Sultan Qaitbay himself in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (acc.no. 91.1.565).
The shape is classically Mamluk, recalling for example the celebrated Baptistière de Saint Louis in the Louvre (acc.no. LP 16). The example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art is catalogued as an ablutions basin, suggesting that it would have been used by its owner for wudhu before prayer. The decoration of our basin is classically Mamluk: the use of empty space around the exterior of the rim, however, is in keeping with other examples of late Mamluk metalwork such as a lunch box in the British Museum, which shares the use of cusped inscription cartouches with the present lot (acc.no. 1908,0328.2). It also evokes the tight arabesques of 'Veneto-Saracenic' metalwork, which Doris Behrens-Abouseif has argued was an outgrowth of late Mamluk metalwork (Doris Behrens-Abouseif, “Veneto-Saracenic Metalware, a Mamluk Art”, Mamluk Studies Review, volume 9, 2 (2005), pp.147-72). The dense ornament and use of strapwork to break the field into a large band of decoration flanked by two minor strips can be compared with the ‘Priuli Wine cup’ in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (acc.no. 311-1854).
Although the patron is anonymous, it is possible to glean a certain amount of information about them from the composite blazon which appears around the exterior. Whilst under the Bahri Mamluks blazons were used as a symbol of the office an amir fulfilled at court, by the sixteenth century they had come to be associated with particular noble households, and shared by all the mamluks belonging to that household. This particular blazon, with a cup charged with a pen case, beneath a napkin and flanked by two powder-horns above a smaller cup, has been attributed to the retinue of Sultan Qaitbay (Esin Atıl, op.cit., p.39). In his comprehensive study of Mamluk heraldry, L. A. Mayer identifies no fewer than ten amirs who used this blazon (Saracenic Heraldry, Oxford, 1933, p.xiv). It is also known to have been used by Sultans Janbalat (r.1500-01) and Qansuh al-Ghuri (r.1501-16), who were both mamluks in the household of Qaitbay. Its use is not confined to metalwork, but also appears on a woollen textile fragment in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc.no. 1972.120.3), and a massive carpet that survives in many fragments including at the Textile Museum, Washington D.C., and the Stefano Bardini Museum, Florence (Rosamond E. Mack, “The Mystery of Cairo’s Magnificent Mamluk Carpets”, Aramco World, vol.70, no.3 (2019), p.26). The blazon appears on a basin in the Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg (acc.no. 1906.576), a tray kept by the Egyptian Embassy in Washington (acc.no. 15944). It also appeared on a large basin – similar in shape to ours - which sold in these Rooms, 26 April 2012, lot 131.
In the cartouches around the rim, mimma ‘umila bi-rasm al-maqarr al-ashraf al-‘ali al-ma /al-mawlawi al-sayyidi al-maliki al-makhd[u]mi al-dhukhri/ al-fakhri al-mujahidi al-murabiti al-‘adudi al-‘alimi/ al-‘adili al-fahimi (al-humami?) al-asili ‘azza nasrahu, ‘One of what was made for the most noble officer, the high, the lordly, the masterly, the possessor, the well-served, the treasure [house of excellence], the pride, the holy warrior, the defender, the help, the learned, the just, the intelligent (the valiant?), the high born, may [God] fortify his victory’
Around the body, mimma ‘umila bi-rasm al-maqarr al-ashraf al-‘ali al-mawlawi/ al-mawlawi al-sayyidi al-maliki al-makhdumi al-‘adud[i]/ al-‘adudi al-dhukhri al-fakhri al-mujahidi al-murabiti, ‘One of what was made for the most noble officer, the high, the lordly, the lordly, the master, the possessor, the well-served, the help, the help, the treasure [house of excellence], the pride, the holy warrior, the defender’.
The roundel in the base, al-maqarr al-ashraf al-‘ali al-mawlawi al-sayyidi al-sayyidi al-maliki al-makhdumi al-‘adudi al-dhukhri al-fakhri ‘azza nasrahu, ‘The most noble officer, the high, the lordly, the master, the master, the possessor, the well-served, the help, the treasure [house of excellence], the pride, may [God] fortify his victory’
The titles around the rim of this basin celebrate the many excellent qualities of its anonymous patron. Stylistically, this basin belongs to a group of metalwork made during the waning years of the Burji Mamluks (r.1382-1517 AD). Though the arts of metalwork had fallen into something of a decline since the long reign of al-Nasir Muhammad in the fourteenth century, it was revived in the fifteenth century with the courtly patronage of Sultan Qaitbay (r.1468-96 AD). Once again, brass vessels were made, large in scale and inscribed with courtly epithets. Though these were often inlaid with precious metal, many - like the present lot - never received this treatment (Esin Atıl, Renaissance of Islam: Art of the Mamluks, Washington D.C., 1981, p.53). From the titulature on this vessel, its size, and its quality we can be sure that it made for someone from the elite, perhaps an amir or a member of a noble household. It bears comparison, for example, with a basin made for Sultan Qaitbay himself in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (acc.no. 91.1.565).
The shape is classically Mamluk, recalling for example the celebrated Baptistière de Saint Louis in the Louvre (acc.no. LP 16). The example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art is catalogued as an ablutions basin, suggesting that it would have been used by its owner for wudhu before prayer. The decoration of our basin is classically Mamluk: the use of empty space around the exterior of the rim, however, is in keeping with other examples of late Mamluk metalwork such as a lunch box in the British Museum, which shares the use of cusped inscription cartouches with the present lot (acc.no. 1908,0328.2). It also evokes the tight arabesques of 'Veneto-Saracenic' metalwork, which Doris Behrens-Abouseif has argued was an outgrowth of late Mamluk metalwork (Doris Behrens-Abouseif, “Veneto-Saracenic Metalware, a Mamluk Art”, Mamluk Studies Review, volume 9, 2 (2005), pp.147-72). The dense ornament and use of strapwork to break the field into a large band of decoration flanked by two minor strips can be compared with the ‘Priuli Wine cup’ in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (acc.no. 311-1854).
Although the patron is anonymous, it is possible to glean a certain amount of information about them from the composite blazon which appears around the exterior. Whilst under the Bahri Mamluks blazons were used as a symbol of the office an amir fulfilled at court, by the sixteenth century they had come to be associated with particular noble households, and shared by all the mamluks belonging to that household. This particular blazon, with a cup charged with a pen case, beneath a napkin and flanked by two powder-horns above a smaller cup, has been attributed to the retinue of Sultan Qaitbay (Esin Atıl, op.cit., p.39). In his comprehensive study of Mamluk heraldry, L. A. Mayer identifies no fewer than ten amirs who used this blazon (Saracenic Heraldry, Oxford, 1933, p.xiv). It is also known to have been used by Sultans Janbalat (r.1500-01) and Qansuh al-Ghuri (r.1501-16), who were both mamluks in the household of Qaitbay. Its use is not confined to metalwork, but also appears on a woollen textile fragment in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc.no. 1972.120.3), and a massive carpet that survives in many fragments including at the Textile Museum, Washington D.C., and the Stefano Bardini Museum, Florence (Rosamond E. Mack, “The Mystery of Cairo’s Magnificent Mamluk Carpets”, Aramco World, vol.70, no.3 (2019), p.26). The blazon appears on a basin in the Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg (acc.no. 1906.576), a tray kept by the Egyptian Embassy in Washington (acc.no. 15944). It also appeared on a large basin – similar in shape to ours - which sold in these Rooms, 26 April 2012, lot 131.