SILVER-INLAID AND ENAMELLED BRASS VENETO-SARACENIC HANDWARMER
An extremely fine and elegant brass handwarmer of spherical form, consisting of two linked half hemispheres with pierced holes. Each of the hemispheres mirroring one another, engraved, and inlaid in...
An extremely fine and elegant brass handwarmer of spherical form, consisting of two linked
half hemispheres with pierced holes. Each of the hemispheres mirroring one another, engraved,
and inlaid in silver with traces of enamel, decorated with six bands of varying widths: a wide
band with alternating cartouches and roundels. The cartouches with alternating geometric and
angular knotted Kufic motifs, the roundels with an interlaced vegetal pattern. Two narrow
bands on either side, decorated with undulating trefoils punctuated with roundels filled with
rosettes. The top and bottom with a large circular roundel forming an interlaced and intricate
geometric motif.
Syria
14th– 15th Century
Diameter: 12.7 cm
Since the Pharaonic period in Egypt, metal-inlay techniques were widely practised, and
production of these wares were increased during the Ayyubid and Mamluk period thanks to
the migration of craftsmen from Mosul in Iraq who specialised in inlay work.
Incense burners holding different kinds of fragrances such as Indian sandalwood, frankincense,
musk and camphor, perfumed a variety of places such as mosques, churches, residences and
were also used as objets de vertu.
In Sylvia Auld’s Renaissance Venice, she separates brass spheres into two groups:
Group A – Late Mamluk produced in Cairo, Damascus, or Aleppo
Group B – Attributed to the work of two artists, Mahmud al-Kurdi and Zayn al-Din.
The present handwarmer would fall under Group A.
Sylvia Auld, op.cit, London, 2004, pp.108-40
Two handwarmers, now in the Bargello Museum in Florence, once belonged to Duke Cosimo de Medici (1519-1574).
The British Museum holds one of the earliest examples of a spherical handwarmer made for
the Mamluk Emir Badr al-Din Baysari.3 Another example can be found in the Freer Gallery of
Art dated to the mid-14th Century with similar, intricate decorative work.4
Sylvia Auld, Renaissance Venice, Islam, and Mahmud the Kurd - a Metalworking Enigma, London, 2004,
p.123-4 cat.1.16 and 1.1Rachel Ward, Islamic Metalwork, London, 1993, p.110, cat.87
Esin Atil, et al, Islamic Metalwork in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985, p.171-2, fig.23
half hemispheres with pierced holes. Each of the hemispheres mirroring one another, engraved,
and inlaid in silver with traces of enamel, decorated with six bands of varying widths: a wide
band with alternating cartouches and roundels. The cartouches with alternating geometric and
angular knotted Kufic motifs, the roundels with an interlaced vegetal pattern. Two narrow
bands on either side, decorated with undulating trefoils punctuated with roundels filled with
rosettes. The top and bottom with a large circular roundel forming an interlaced and intricate
geometric motif.
Syria
14th– 15th Century
Diameter: 12.7 cm
Since the Pharaonic period in Egypt, metal-inlay techniques were widely practised, and
production of these wares were increased during the Ayyubid and Mamluk period thanks to
the migration of craftsmen from Mosul in Iraq who specialised in inlay work.
Incense burners holding different kinds of fragrances such as Indian sandalwood, frankincense,
musk and camphor, perfumed a variety of places such as mosques, churches, residences and
were also used as objets de vertu.
In Sylvia Auld’s Renaissance Venice, she separates brass spheres into two groups:
Group A – Late Mamluk produced in Cairo, Damascus, or Aleppo
Group B – Attributed to the work of two artists, Mahmud al-Kurdi and Zayn al-Din.
The present handwarmer would fall under Group A.
Sylvia Auld, op.cit, London, 2004, pp.108-40
Two handwarmers, now in the Bargello Museum in Florence, once belonged to Duke Cosimo de Medici (1519-1574).
The British Museum holds one of the earliest examples of a spherical handwarmer made for
the Mamluk Emir Badr al-Din Baysari.3 Another example can be found in the Freer Gallery of
Art dated to the mid-14th Century with similar, intricate decorative work.4
Sylvia Auld, Renaissance Venice, Islam, and Mahmud the Kurd - a Metalworking Enigma, London, 2004,
p.123-4 cat.1.16 and 1.1Rachel Ward, Islamic Metalwork, London, 1993, p.110, cat.87
Esin Atil, et al, Islamic Metalwork in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985, p.171-2, fig.23
