One object that you might want to show, because it is not a ceremonial object in its original form—it was most probably ceremonial in a sense that it was a banquet object—which is actually a huge metal bowl that was taken in 1249 from Egypt to France and it became the baptistery of all the French kings.
NASSER RABBAT, AGA KHAN PROFESSOR, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
100-1400 CE
Master metal craftsman Mohammed ibn al-Zain created this brass basin during the Bahri Mamluk reign (1250–1382). Inlaid with silver and gold, the basin’s wide central, outer band depicts a finely crafted procession of Mamluk emirs, or officials, among them a mace-bearer (jumaqdâr), ax-bearer (tabardân), and bow-bearer (bunduqdâr). Four horsemen in roundels punctuating the procession of dignitaries may be personifications of different aspects of furusiyya, or “horsemanship.” Friezes of animals and coats-of-arms frame this exterior band and decorate the basin’s interior as well.
artist: mohammed ibn al-zain | origin: egyptian or syrian
How far back?
2020 | Present
