SILVER-ENCRUSTED WINE POURER WITH CALLIGRAPHIC DECORATION Mamluk Egypt or Syria, 14th century In copper alloy, the bulbous profile, curved at the base, the right lip, with engraved and silver inlaid decoration, the shoulder decorated with a band inscribed in Arabic, the body decorated with large floral medallions, the base with a beautiful radiating calligraphic composition in thuluth, the interior decorated with a round of six fish, the spout replaced. Diameter: 14 cm (max) Registration form: "Al-maqarr al-'ali al-maliki al-'amili al-'amili al-'ali al-'adili al-ghazi al-mujahidi al-murabiti al-muthaghiri al-ghawthi al-dhakhari al-'anani (?) al-humami al-? al-Kamili al-kamili (repeated)" "The High Authority, the Possessor, the Executor (repeated), the Just, the Victorious, the Fighter of the Faith, the Defender, the Protector, the Liberator, the Saviour (...), the Valiant (...), the Perfect (repeated)". A Mamluk Silver-Inlaid Brass Wine Pourer, Egypt or Syria, 14th century The identification of this ware as a wine pourer is given by James Allan in his study of a bowl similar to ours, formerly in the Nuhad Es-Said Collection (James W. Allan, Islamic Metalwork, The Nuhad Es-Said Collection, London, 1982, cat. 21, p.100-1). This attribution is supported by the identification of these bowls in 15th-century Timurid paintings (op.cit., p.100). They were used to transfer wine from the wine jar to the jug. They seem to have been popular in the 14th and 15th centuries and several examples of these Mamluk pouring bowls have survived, following the same model with its modest size and flattened profile: four are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (see M.36-1915 and 1233-1883) and one in the British Museum (1881,0802.22). Two others were sold at Bonhams, 2 October 2012, no. 65, and at Christie's, London, the latter richly decorated, on 28 October 2020, no. 18. The spout on our bowl is a later replacement. Originally, it would have been longer, tapering towards the end like the examples discussed above. It is finely decorated and its decoration is inlaid with silver plates. Below the base, a radiating calligraphic inscription shows the care and luxury with which it was decorated. This type of radiating inscription can be found, for example, on a Mamluk bowl of similar size, formerly in the Aaron Collection, which can be dated to the reign of Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad Ibn Qala'un, circa 1300-1340, but does not have the ducks-in-flight motif characteristic of the period (James W. Allan, Metalwork of the Islamic World, The Aaron Collection, London, 1986, cat. 9, p.86).