STUDY OF A RARE MAMLUK METAL BUCKET IN THE MUSEUM OF ISLAMIC ART IN CAIRO

Document Type : research articles

Author

Department of Islamic Archaeololgy, Faculty of Archaeology, Fayoum University

Abstract

This paper is a new study of a metal bucket made of brass, preserved in the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo. This bucket is published for the first time. The artistic characteristics of this bucket indicate that it belongs to the Mamluk period (648-923 AH / 1250-1517 AD). Although it contains an inscription that could be related, in terms of content, to the inscriptions of Shiite origin, this is uncommon; among Mamluk objects, which raises many arguments about this object and its importance. Firstly, the study aimed to date this bucket and determine its provenance; by analyzing its artistic stylistic features, primarily, the decorations and the type of script used for the inscription. It has been proved that this bucket was made during the Mamluk period (the first half of the 8th AH / 14th AD century) in the Levant. Then, the study discussed the content of the inscription on the bucket and explained the reason for not recording the part which contains explicit Shiite expressions; through analysis and induction of historical sources; to find out about contemporary events. The study showed the extent of the impact of those events on the content of the inscription on this bucket.

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