Name of Object:

Stone blazon

Location:

Aleppo, Syria

Holding Museum:

National Museum of Aleppo, Islamic Department

Date of Object:

Hegira late 9th–early 10th century / AD late 15th–early 16th century

Museum Inventory Number:

533

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Carved stone.

Dimensions:

Height 51.4 cm, width 55 cm, depth 18.7 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Mamluk

Provenance:

Unknown (Aleppo, Syria).

Description:

In the Mamluk period, heraldry played an important role and was widely used on architecture, metalwork, textiles, glass and pottery. Its use was strictly the reserve of sultans and particularly of the officers who were awarded individual blazons, each according to their rank. While the early Bahri Mamluks used blazons which represented a distinct office held by an individual, the later Burji Mamluks combined several heraldic emblems which were commonly shared by a corps of amirs who served a distinct master.
The stone roundel with the tripartite blazon from the Aleppo Museum represents a widely used composition from the late Mamluk period: it contains the symbol of the jamdar (master-of-the-robes) with a so-called “napkin” in the upper field, the stemmed cup of the cup-bearer (saqi) charged with the pen box of the dawadar (secretary) in the central field, flanked by what has been identified as a pair of powder horns. A second, smaller, stemmed cup is placed in the lower field.
According to Meinecke (1972), this particular emblem was the most popular blazon of the late Burji period and is known to have been used by at least 47 amirs. Its first employment can be traced back to Sultan Qaytbay (AH 872–901 / AD 1468-96) when he was still an officer himself and he then conferred it upon his own followers. It was in use up to AH 922 / AD 1517 and came to represent something like the Mamluk “State blazon”.

View Short Description

The use of royal emblems reached a high point during the Mamluk period. This carved stone roundel reveals a composition of symbols including those of the cup-bearer, the secretary and the master of robes.

How date and origin were established:

The piece was dated by comparison with other similar pieces.

How Object was obtained:

It is not known how the Museum came by this object.

How provenance was established:

Although the provenance is unknown, this medallion probably belonged to either Amir Uzdamur (also known as Özdemir), who ruled Aleppo twice in 884 / 1479 and between 889–99 / 1484–93, or the last Mamluk amir, Kha'irbak b. Bilbay. Both were closely connected to Sultan Qaytbay, leaving examples of this emblem on various buildings in the city: Uzdamur on his caravanserai (Khan al-Sabun), the Qastal al-Ramadaniyya, the Qastal Jami' al-Sharaf and the Jami' al-Sharaf itself; Kha'irbak on his mausoleum south of Bab al-Maqam and his khan in the suq not far from the citadel.

Selected bibliography:

Syrie: Mémoire et Civilisation, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 1994, p.475 ; cat. no. 379.
Herzfeld, E., Matériaux pour un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum: Syrie du Nord, Part 2: Inscriptions et monuments d'Alep, 3 Vols, Cairo, 1954–6, p.393ff, p.396 ff, pp.404–6; figs. 126, 128, 130; plates CLXX a, CLXXII c.
Mayer, L. A., Saracenic Heraldry, Oxford, 1933, pp.136–8.
Meinecke, M., “Zur mamlukischen Heraldik”, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Institutes, Abteilung Kairo, XXVIII/2, 1972, pp.213–87.
Sauvaget, J., Alep. Essai sur le développement d'une grande ville syrienne des origines au milieu du XIXe siècle, 2 Vols, Paris, 1941, plates XXII, XXIII.

Citation of this web page:

Julia Gonnella "Stone blazon" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2025.
https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;sy;Mus01_A;48;en

Prepared by: Julia Gonnella
Copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: SY 80

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