.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Inscriptions on carved Mamluk woodwork usually include religious or royal inscriptions (see for example, Miriam Kühn, 'The Epigraphical Program of Mamluk Minbars: Religious and Quranic Inscriptions Emphasizing Minbars as a Site for Preaching,' Journal of Material Cultures in the Muslim World, vol.4, issue 1, 2023, pp.35-77). Inscriptions such as this, which is of culinary relevance, are very rare.
The inscription on this panel suggests that it was originally intended for a domestic or kitchen setting. It must have been for a wealthy household. Wood interiors would have been a great luxury in Mamluk Egypt due to the lack of timber, necessitating importing it at high cost from Anatolia, India, and Africa. Once imported, it would have been mainly limited to ceilings, door frames, and door leaves (Aïda El Khiari, 'A Mamluk carved ivory calligraphic plaque,' Carine Juvin (ed.), Mamluks: Legacy of an Empire, Dubai and Beirut, 2025 p.192).
There is a contemporaneous panel in the Toledo Museum of Art (1925.137) with a similar inscription. Not fully deciphered, its suggested reading is: law ya’lamu al-dud ma fi al-nahl min ‘asal …, ‘If the worm knew what the bee contained by way of honey …’. These two panels are the only known architectural examples with such inscriptions. A similar example can be read on the famous Baptistère de Saint Louis in the Louvre (LP 16): ana muhafiyya li-haml al-ta'am, 'I am a container for carrying food.'
Another food-related inscription is on a foundation endowment of the Wakala of Sultan Qaytbay dated 1480 sanctioning the distribution of bread and porridge to its visitors (Bernard O’Kane, The Monumental Inscriptions of Historic Cairo, Online, inscr.no.9.4).
The inscription on this panel suggests that it was originally intended for a domestic or kitchen setting. It must have been for a wealthy household. Wood interiors would have been a great luxury in Mamluk Egypt due to the lack of timber, necessitating importing it at high cost from Anatolia, India, and Africa. Once imported, it would have been mainly limited to ceilings, door frames, and door leaves (Aïda El Khiari, 'A Mamluk carved ivory calligraphic plaque,' Carine Juvin (ed.), Mamluks: Legacy of an Empire, Dubai and Beirut, 2025 p.192).
There is a contemporaneous panel in the Toledo Museum of Art (1925.137) with a similar inscription. Not fully deciphered, its suggested reading is: law ya’lamu al-dud ma fi al-nahl min ‘asal …, ‘If the worm knew what the bee contained by way of honey …’. These two panels are the only known architectural examples with such inscriptions. A similar example can be read on the famous Baptistère de Saint Louis in the Louvre (LP 16): ana muhafiyya li-haml al-ta'am, 'I am a container for carrying food.'
Another food-related inscription is on a foundation endowment of the Wakala of Sultan Qaytbay dated 1480 sanctioning the distribution of bread and porridge to its visitors (Bernard O’Kane, The Monumental Inscriptions of Historic Cairo, Online, inscr.no.9.4).