Name of Object:

Lidded bowl

Location:

Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom

Holding Museum:

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow Museums

About Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow Museums, Glasgow

Date of Object:

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

Museum Inventory Number:

1883.32.t

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Engraved brass with silver inlay.

Dimensions:

Diameter 15 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Mamluk

Provenance:

Damascus, Syria.

Description:

A lidded bowl made of cast brass, turned and engraved with interlaced arabesque decoration. It has a rounded bottom and a flat, tight-fitting lid. Though much of the silver inlay has fallen off, there are still some traces of it on the base and sides of the bowl. The inside of the lid has an engraved decorative roundel in its centre. As the lid fits tightly, it is believed that the container was intended to hold incense or spices.

Although this box was made in Mamluk Syria, it was intended for the European market, specifically Venice. In the 19th century, scholars thought that this type of metalwork was made by Muslim craftsmen living in Venice, and therefore called it: 'Veneto-Saracenic', but research has since shown that such items were actually made in Mamluk Syria and Egypt specifically for export to the Venetian market.

This round-bottomed brass bowl is covered with an interlaced arabesque decoration, which was inlaid with silver. It was most probably used as an incense or spice container, and made by Mamluk craftsmen in Syria or Egypt for the Venetian market.

How date and origin were established:

Artistic analysis and comparison with other examples of metalwork made for the European market during the 9th–10th / 15th–16th centuries.

How Object was obtained:

Purchased as part of a larger collection of items in 1883.

Selected bibliography:

Ward, R., Islamic Metalwork, London, 1993.

Citation of this web page:

Noorah Al-Gailani "Lidded bowl" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2026.
https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;uk;Mus04;26;en

Prepared by: Noorah Al-GailaniNoorah Al-Gailani

Noorah Al-Gailani is Curator for Islamic Civilisations at Glasgow Museums, Scotland. With a BA in Interior Design from the College of Fine Arts, Baghdad University and three years' experience in design and folk art preservation, she moved to the UK in 1992. On completing her MA in Museum Studies at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London in 1994, she worked as Project Officer at the Grange Museum of Community History documenting the presence of Muslim communities in the London Borough of Brent. In 1995 she was Assistant Curator, Ancient Monuments Laboratory, English Heritage, and in 1996 became Curator for John Wesley's House and the Museum of Methodism in London. She co-authored The Islamic Year: Surahs, Stories and Celebrations (Stroud: Hawthorn Press, 2002) for non-Muslim children. Since 2003 she has been based at The Burrell Collection in Glasgow, working across the city's museums to interpret Islamic art and culture, ancient and modern, through research, exhibitions and educational activities.
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: UK4 30