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Basin14th century

Not on view

Brass vessel with wide flaring rim and cylindrical body, engraved with Arabic-script inscription and foliate ornament on a honey-gold surface

Brass basin photographed from above, with a wide flat rim densely engraved with scrolling arabesques and radiating cartouches; the darkened interior bowl features a central medallion with fine incised floral and figural decoration.

Large engraved brass basin with flared rim and cylindrical body, decorated with a wide band of Arabic calligraphy in naskh script surrounded by scrolling arabesque borders, with additional geometric and vegetal patterns along the interior rim.

Title: Basin
Place Made: Egypt
Date Made: 14th century
Medium: Brass, engraved and inlaid with silver
Dimensions: 8 x 18 1/8 in. (20.25 x 46.00 cm)
Credit Line: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, gift of Joan Palevsky
Accession Number: M.73.5.125
Classification: Metal
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Islamic
Curatorial Notes: Bold calligraphic bands of thuluth, a monumental script with rounded proportions, became the main decorative element on metalwork produced for the Mamluk rulers of Egypt during the first decades of the fourteenth century, as is demonstrated by this large silver-inlaid basin. It is encircled by two prominent epigraphic registers, on the exterior and on the interior rim. The inscriptions provide the lengthy titles of an anonymous amir in the service of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad (r. 1294–1340, with interruptions). Brass basins were often made as a set with an ewer, some of which survive, and were likely intended for washing the hands after dining.
Selected Bibliography: Pal, Pratapaditya, ed. Islamic Art: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection. Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 1973.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art Members' Calendar 1991. vol. 28-29, no. 12-1 (December, 1990-January, 1992).
Lo Terrenal y lo Divino: Arte Islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Ángeles. Santiago: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015.
Komaroff, Linda. Beauty and Identity: Islamic Art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2016.
Markel, Stephen. Mughal and Early Modern Metalware from South Asia at LACMA: An Online Scholarly Catalogue. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2020. https://archive.org/details/mughal-metalware (accessed September 7, 2021).
Komaroff, Linda, editor. Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New York: DelMonico Books, 2023.

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