This brass ewer embodies the fusion of artistry and storytelling, its surface transformed into a stage where geometry, calligraphy, and figural imagery converge. The vessel’s warm golden-brown patina enhances the engraved details, giving depth and vibrancy to a narrative of courtly leisure and refinement.
Calligraphic Inscriptions
A refined band of tall script encircles the ewer’s neck, praising the Sultan:
Arabic:
"العز لمولانا السلطان القائد الظاهر بيبرس"
Transliteration:
al-ʿizz li-mawlānā al-sulṭān al-qāʾid al-ẓāhir Baybars.
Translation:
“Glory to our lord, the Sultan, the commander, al-Ẓāhir Baybars.”
Additional inscriptions, discreetly engraved on the base, reinforce the vessel’s ceremonial and devotional function.
Artistic Details
- Geometric Ground: The body is covered in a dense honeycomb lattice, creating depth and rhythm across the surface.
- Figural Cartouches: Framed medallions interrupt the pattern, each depicting princes engaged in courtly life:
- One holding a parrot, a symbol of elegance and companionship.
- Another drinking from a vessel, suggesting festivity.
- A figure reclining with a hookah-like object, tying the imagery to leisure and refinement.
- A fourth prince in conversation, completing the cycle of sociability and courtly grace.
- Arabesque Band: Above the figures, scrolling arabesques weave around the neck, interlaced with the calligraphy, echoing the infinity of gardens in bloom.
- Handle: The handle curves in a serpentine form, ridged for strength yet graceful in contour, balancing function and ornament.
- Patina: The brass surface, glowing with time-worn warmth, accentuates shadows in the engraving and highlights the refined detail.
Interpretation
This ewer is both a functional vessel and a manuscript in metal. The engraved princes embody the pleasures of courtly life, conversation, music, companionship, and refinement, while the inscriptions root the object in the authority of Sultan Baybars. Together, they project the dual ideals of the Mamluk court: power and leisure, command and culture, transforming the ewer into a ceremonial object of storytelling and status.
