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Studies in Islamic Metal Work—II1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

D. S. Rice
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Extract

The earliest dated signature of a Mawṣilī artist is incised on a small inlaid brass box belonging to the Benaki Museum, Athens (Case 65, No. 17). This is an oblong miniature piece which measures only 6·3 cm. in length and 3·6 cm. in width. It is 2·3 cm. high and provided with an overlapping, bevelled lid (1·1 cm. high) which is fixed by means of two tiny hinges at the back and with a hasp in front. Its shape strongly resembles that of a snuff box and has no known parallel in Islamic metal work. Despite its exiguous dimensions it is decorated with intricate arabesques and inscriptions. The skilfully worked decor was for the most part filled with fine silver inlay, much of which has survived.

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Articles
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , February 1953 , pp. 61 - 79
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1953

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References

page 61 note 2 I am indebted to Mr. A. E. Benaki, founder of the Benaki Museum, Athens, and to its Director, Mr. E. Hadzidaki, for the facilities granted to me and for permission to publish this piece.

page 61 note 3 Cf. Migeon, G., Exposition d'art musulman, Alexandria, 1925, p. 77, No. 399, and pl. 10a, bGoogle Scholar, of the illustrated folio size catalogue published under the same title. Cf. also Devonshire, R. L., Quelques influences islamiques sur les arts de l'Europe, Cairo, 1935, 45, fig. 38Google Scholar. The same views are also available in postcard form at the Benaki Museum.

page 61 note 4 Combe, E., ‘Cinq cuivres musulmans datés de la collection Benaki’, in BIFAO., vol. xxx, 1930, p. 50 f.Google Scholar

page 62 note 1 With slight modifications in the French translation, this reading was adopted by the Répertoire chrorwlogique d'epigraphie arabe, Cairo, 1939, vol. x, No. 3863Google Scholar. All references to this publication will be given henceforth in the body of the text after the abbreviation RCEA.

page 63 note 1 Wright, W., A Grammar of the Arabic Language, 3rd ed., Cambridge, 1896, vol. i, p. 267c.Google Scholar

page 64 note 1 Cf. similar arabesques in Rice, D. S., ‘The Brasses of Badr al-din Lu'lu'’, BSOAS., xiii, 1950, figs. 7–8, p. 633Google Scholar

page 65 note 1 Cf. A Survey of Persian Art, ed. Pope, A. U., London, 1939, vol. vi, pls. 1306, 1323.Google Scholar

page 65 note 2 Ibid., pl. 1227.

page 65 note 3 Ibid., vol. v, pl. 930 D; also Bayani, Mehdi, Rahnemāy genjīne-i-qur'ān der muze-i-bāstān, Tehran, 1328 a.h. (solar), pl. 3.Google Scholar

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page 65 note 5 Baltrušaitis, J., Etudes sur l'art médiéval en Géorgie et en Arménie, Paris, 1929, pl. xx, 34.Google Scholar

page 66 note 1 I am indebted to Mr. H. Kevorkian for the photographs reproduced on Pls. X–XI, and for permission to publish them.

page 66 note 2 Details reproduced in Rice, D. S., ‘The Oldest Dated “Mosul” Candlestick, a.d. 1225’, in The Burlington Magazine, 12, 1949, figs. 5–6, facing p. 337.Google Scholar

page 66 note 3 Reproduced ib., fig. 7; also Dimand, M. S., Handbook of Muhammadan Art, New York, 1944, p. 144Google Scholar, fig. 85, and in colour by Pijoán, J., Arte islámico (Summa Artis, vol. xii), Madrid, 1949, pl. x.Google Scholar

page 66 note 4 A description of this unpublished ewer is under preparation for a future instalment of these Studies.

page 66 note 5 For similar lime-shaped medallions on a platter, made for Badr al-dīn Lu'lu', in the V. and A. Museum, see BSOAS., xiii, 1950, pl. 13.Google Scholar

page 67 note 1 The same erroneous date appears in Wiet, G., Objets en cuivre, Cairo, 1930, Append. No. 42Google Scholar, and in Barrett, D., Metalwork in the British Museum, London, 1949, p. xivGoogle Scholar. Kühnel, E. (‘Zwei Mosulbronzen und ihr Meister’, in Jahrbuch der preuss. Kunstsamml., lx, 1939, p. 10, note 1)Google Scholar queried this reading and the first correct dating is given by Ettinghausen, R., Metalwork from Islamic countries, University of Michigan, 1943, p. 13, No. 46Google Scholar. It is also possible to apply the rule of involutio to this part of the inscription and to read the twice: .

page 67 note 2 Brockelmann, C., GAL., i, p. 293Google Scholar, Suppl., i, p. 514.Google Scholar

page 67 note 3 Al-mu rib fil-lu a, BM. MS. Or. 4188, fo. 159 v.

page 67 note 4 Cf. the writer's article in The Burlington Magazine, 12, 1949, pp. 334–340.Google Scholar

page 68 note 1 According to Ibn allikān, who attended his funeral in Aleppo in 631/1233, he was of Armenian descent (wafayāt al-a'yān, Cairo, , a.h. 1275, vol. ii, p. 536Google Scholar). In this he is not supported by other sources.

page 68 note 2 Cf. Sauvaget, J., Alep, Paris, 1941, p. 133Google Scholar, and the sources mentioned there.

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page 68 note 6 This monument has almost completely disappeared in subsequent reconstructions. Cf. Ibn iḥna, op. cit., p. 116 f.Google Scholar; Sauvaget, J., Les perles choisies, Beirut, 1933, p. 122 f.Google Scholar, and Rāib aṭ-Ṭabbā, op. cit., ii, pp. 249–253.Google Scholar

page 69 note 1 Lanci, M. A., Trattato delle simboliche rappresentanze arabiche, Paris, 1846, vol. ii, pp. 128 ff.Google Scholar

page 69 note 2 Ibid., Atlante, pl. xlii.Google Scholar

page 70 note 1 Wiet, G., Objets en cuivre, Cairo, 1930, p. 272.Google Scholar

page 70 note 2 Migeon, G., ‘Les cuivres arabes’, Gazette des Beaux arts, vol. xxii, pp. 471–2.Google Scholar

page 70 note 3 Idem, Exposition des arts musulmans, Paris, 1903, pl. 15.Google Scholar

page 70 note 4 Idem, Manuel d'art musulman, Paris, 1907, ii, p. 175, fig. 150, and p. 188 f.Google Scholar

page 70 note 5 Idem, Manuel d'art musulman, 2nd ed., Paris, 1927, ii, p. 54f., fig. 240Google Scholar. On this occasion he actually quoted Lanci's publication (with a wrong reference) and failed to connect the Koechlin ewer (as it then was) with Ibrāhīm ibn Mawāliyā.

page 70 note 6 Cf. Meisterwerke Muhammedanischer Kunst, Munich, 1910, ii, pl. 149.Google Scholar

page 70 note 7 I am indebted to M. Jean David-Weill, Keeper of Islamic art in the Louvre, for permission to photograph and study this exhibit and to Mme M. Hours for the facilities put at my disposal in the laboratory of the museum.

page 71 note 1 A similar dragon decorates the top of a 15th-century helmet in the Museo Bardini, in Florence; cf. SirLaking, G. F., A Record of European Armour and Arms, London, 1920, vol. ii, p. 164, fig. 503.Google Scholar

page 72 note 1 I know of only one other somewhat doubtful epigraphic mention of the word to indicate the fashioning of a metal vessel. This appears on the ‘Bobrinski bucket’ from Herat, dated 559/1163 (RCEA., No. 3260). The reading is not absolutely certain as the inscription is slightly mutilated at this point. It is also odd, as the vessel is cast not beaten.

page 73 note 1 Cf. Flury, S., ‘Ornamental Kufic Inscriptions on Pottery’, in A Survey of Persian Art, London, 1939, vol. v, p. 1746, and p. 1752Google Scholar. A ṣād with two compartments appears on an unpublished dish from Transoxania (similar to the Kann dish in the Louvre) in the V. and A. Museum.

page 73 note 2 A similar omission occurs in the inscriptions mentioning the name of another Mawṣilī artist—Aḥmad ibn 'Umar a-akī, cf. Rice, D. S., ‘The oldest “Mosul” candlestick’, p. 339.Google Scholar

page 73 note 3 ibn Mängli, Muḥammad: Uns al-malā biwaḥ al-falā, ed. Pharaon, Paris, 1880, p. 131.Google Scholar

page 75 note 1 Cf. Arnold, Th. and Grohmann, A., The Islamic Boole, London, 1929, pl. 31 (the Vienna pseudo-Galen MS.)Google Scholar, Farès, Bishr, Une miniature religieuse de l'école de Baghdad, Cairo, 1948, pls. ix, vi–vii, xi (the Cairo Aānī MSS.)Google Scholar, Survey of Persian Art, vol. vi, pl. 1330a, d (the Blacas ewer in the British Museum).Google Scholar

page 75 note 2 This is the so-called ‘Tartar coat’ which ‘had a hem crossing the chest diagonally from left to right.’ Cf. Mayer, L. A., Mamluk Costume, Geneva, 1952, p. 21.Google Scholar

page 75 note 3 Cf. the Stroganoff dish in Sarre, F., Die Kunst des alien Persien, Berlin, 1922Google Scholar, and another dish found in Southern Russia and now in Leningrad, reproduced by Cohn-Wiener, E., Das Kunstge-werbe des Ostens, Berlin, s.d., p. 111, fig. 84Google Scholar. Also Bahrami, M., ‘A Gold Medal in the Freer Gallery of Art’, in Archaeologica Orientalia in Memoriam Ernst Herzfeld, ed. Miles, G. C., New York, 1952, p. 7f.Google Scholar

page 75 note 4 Cf. Mostafavi, T., ‘Les derniers résultats des travaux de Persepolis’, in Mémoires du III e Congrès international d'art et d'archéologie iraniens, Leningrad, 1939, pl. lviii, b.Google Scholar

page 76 note 1 Cf. Froehner, R., ‘Die Pferdeheilkunde des Ahmad ibn Hasan ibn al-Ahnaf’, in Hauptner Neuheiten Katalog, 1936, pp. 39 ff.Google Scholar; Holier, K., ‘Die Galen Handschrift und die Makamen des Hariri in der Wiener Nationalbibliothek’, in Jahrbuch Kunsth. Samml. Wien, N.F., xi, 1937, pp. 5, 7, figs. 1, 4.Google Scholar

page 76 note 2 Cf. Saxl, Fr., ‘Frühes Christentum und spätes Heidentum in ihren künstlerischen Ausdrucksformen’, in Wiener Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte, vol. ii (14), 1923, Vienna, 1925, pp. 88–100.Google Scholar

page 76 note 3 Cf. Sauvaget, J. in Journal Asiatiyue, vol. ccxxxii, 1940–1941, p. 54 fGoogle Scholar. Also Rice, D. S., ‘The seasons and labors of the months in Islamic art’, in Ars Orientalis, vol. i (in the press).Google Scholar

page 76 note 4 Rice, D. S., Le Baptistère de Saint Louis, Paris, 1951, pls. iv, xvii–xix.Google Scholar

page 77 note 1 I owe this observation to Mr. H. Maryon, of the British Museum Research Laboratory.

page 77 note 2 Cf. also A. Якуовский, 'Ваза с Изорженем Музыкантов и Игры в Поло, in Памямнυкυ эnохυ Русмаѕелυ, Leningrad, 1938, pp. 201–8, pl. 35.Google Scholar

page 78 note 1 Migeon, G., Manuel d'art musulman, 1st ed., p. 189, 2nd ed., vol. ii, p. 54.Google Scholar

page 78 note 2 Cf. della Vida, G. Levi, art. ‘M. A. Lanci’, in Encyclopedia italiana, vol. xx, p. 485Google Scholar. Lanci was born in Fano in 1779 and died at Rome in 1867.

page 78 note 3 Trattato, vol. ii, p. 158.Google Scholar

page 78 note 4 Cf. A survey of Persian Art, vol. vi, pls. 1322, 1323, 1325Google Scholar, and the foot of the ‘Sasanian-type’ jug in Leningrad; Sarre, F., Die Kunst des alien Persien, pl. 132Google Scholar; Cohn-Wiener, E., op. cit., p. 113, fig. 86Google Scholar. There may have originally been a third repousse ring in the middle of the ewer's neck, as on the specimen in the Metropolitan Museum (see above, p. 66, note 3) and on a ewer in Tehran (Survey of Persian Art, vol. vi, pl. 1342 AGoogle Scholar), both these vessels are works of Mawṣilī artists.

page 78 note 5 Survey, vol. vi, pl. 1277 A, 1278 B, 1279 A, B, 1280 B, C, and 1281.Google Scholar

page 78 note 6 Ibid., pl. 1322.

page 78 note 7 Ibid., pl. 1323.

page 79 note 1 Ibid., pl. 1325, and Barrett, D., Metalwork in the British Museum, London, 1949, pl. 6.Google Scholar

page 79 note 2 Гюзајіьан, Бронзовый Кувпіин, 1182 r., in Памямнυκυ Зnoxu Рчсмaьелu, pp. 227–237, pls. 29–30Google Scholar. The best reproduction is given by Radde, G., Die Sammlungen des kaukasischen Museums, Tiflis, 1902, vol. v, pl. xv.Google Scholar

page 79 note 3 Survey, vol. vi, pl. 1342 A.Google Scholar

page 79 note 4 Rice, D. S., ‘The Oldest Dated “Mosul” Candlestick’, in The Burlington Magazine, 12, 1949, figs. 8–11, facing p. 340.Google Scholar

page 79 note 5 Cf. Cohn-Wiener, E., op. cit., p. 95, fig. 73, and p. 112, fig. 85.Google Scholar

page 79 note 6 Cf. Веселоьскіŭ, H. И., Герамскіŭ Бронзоьіŭ Коmелокь ( = Матеріалы по Археологии Россін, No. 33), St. Petersburg, 1910.Google Scholar

page 79 note 7 Herzfeld, E., ‘A Bronze Pencase’, in Ars Islamica, vol. iii, 1936, pp. 35–43.Google Scholar