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This tray stand once served as a portable table leg. Three or more such stands would be placed beneath huge brass trays, inlaid in similar style and often measuring more than 100 centimetres in diameter, at Mamluk banquets. At a later date, this stand was converted into a vase by soldering a base plate inside the lower rim. Perhaps at the same time it underwent various mends, visible as grey patches of solder below the central rib.
Further Reading
The tray stand is engraved and inlaid with silver and gold, much of it now missing. A bold Arabic inscription decorates the upper and lower parts of the stand. Some of the letters extend into the frame below, creating an even more emphatic design. Two large roundels containing lotus and other exotic blossoms arranged around a central six-petalled whirling rosette punctuate the inscription. The rib in the middle of the stand also has an Arabic inscription. The upper parts of both rims have a narrow frieze of scrolling leaves and small rosettes.
The tray’s various inscriptions reveal that the owner of the tray stand was an amir (officer) in the service of the Mamluk Sultan al-Malik al-Nasir. The two large inscriptions both read:
The smaller inscription on the middle rib reads:
While several Mamluk sultans held the title al-Nasir, the style of decoration on this stand suggests that the inscriptions refer to al-Nasir Muhammad, the longest reigning Mamluk Sultan (1293–94, 1299–1309, 1310–41). During his third reign, al-Nasir Muhammad negotiated peace with the Mongol Ilkhanid dynasty, thereby facilitating trade between the regions. The resulting influx of luxury goods displaying a distinctive Mongol “chinoiserie” style had a strong influence on Mamluk art. Imported Mongol or Chinese textiles likely inspired the chinoiserie decoration seen here in the roundels, dating the tray stand between the mid-1320s and the death of al-Nasir Muhammad in 1341. [1]
The missing inlays reveal the inlay technique used to decorate the object. The large areas were recessed and bevelled slightly from the centre to undercut their edges. The sheet inlays would be cut to shape and placed into the recessed areas and then the edges hammered down to hold them in place. Gold inlays were generally limited to small areas (like the petals of rosettes or the central petal of the lotus flowers in the roundels) so that the ground did not need to be recessed, thus allowing the metalworker to use very thin sheets of this precious metal.
However well executed, inlaid decoration is liable to fall out with use and cleaning. The survival of the precious metal inlays was made more precarious by the economic problems that the Mamluk empire faced after the mid-14th century. Mamluk historians decry the shortage of precious metal and actually describe the owners of inlaid brasses picking out the gold and silver inlays of their inlaid brasses so that they can convert them to currency. [2]
— Rachel Ward
Notes
[1] For a discussion of the metalwork made for this sultan, see Rachel Ward, ‘Brass, Gold and Silver: Metal Vessels Made for Sultan Al-Nāsir Muḥammad, Royal Asiatic Society Journal, Series 3, vol. 14, part 1, April 2004, pp. 59–73
[2] James W. Allan ‘Sha`ban, Barquq and the decline of the Mamluk Metalworking Industry’ in Muqarnas vol. 2, 1984, pp. 85-94 ISBN: 9780300031379
Reference
Ward, Rachel. ‘Brass, Gold and Silver: Metal Vessels Made for Sultan Al-Nāsir Muḥammad, Royal Asiatic Society Journal, Series 3, vol. 14, part 1, April 2004.
Allan, James W. ‘Sha`ban, Barquq and the decline of the Mamluk Metalworking Industry’ in Muqarnas vol. 2, 1984. ISBN: 9780300031379
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