Although luxury objects from the medieval Islamic world are often assumed to have been made for a royal patron, only a small fraction can be definitively associated with a particular sponsor. This silver bowl, engraved with a sphinxlike creature, is therefore of great importance, since the inscription around its inner rim identifies its patron as the mother of the ruler of Gurgan, a province in the Caspian region of Iran, in the 1030s and early 1040s. This bowl reminds us that royal and elite women were important patrons of art and architecture throughout Islamic history. The inscription reads, "Glory and fortune and long life and confirmation and stability and assistance from God and power to the noble lady Queen of Earth, mother of Sharaf al-Ma'ali, may God prolong her existence."

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