Box
Bowl-shaped box and cover made from hammered brass sheet, part soldered and then chased and decorated with inlaid silver.

Maker

(metalworker)
15th century (Life dates)

Title

Box
Bowl-shaped box and cover made from hammered brass sheet, part soldered and then chased and decorated with inlaid silver.

Date of Production

15th–16th century

Medium

brass and silver inlay

Dimensions

Height: 7.6 cm
Diameter: 15.8 cm

Accession Number

O.1966.GP.204

Mode of Acquisition

Gambier Parry, bequest, 1966

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Location

On display

Keywords



Label Text

This box is signed by the master craftsman Mahmud al-Kurdi, whose name appears on many pieces of export metalwork. Unique amongst his signed boxes, it bears his name (on the rim) in both Arabic and Roman script. The latter is a transliteration of the Arabic and reads the ‘work of the master Mahmud’. His pieces all feature densely inlaid patterns of thin silver wire.

Provenance

Information not yet known or updated

Exhibition History

Islamic Metalwork Touring Highlights Exhibition, Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro, 27/09/2019-12/01/2020; Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford, 18/01/2020-20/09/2020; Museum of the History of Science, University of Oxford, 10/09/2020-10/01/2021; Holburne Museum, Bath, 17/05/2021-01/08/2021

Moments of Vision - Venice and the Islamic World, Metropolitan Museum of Art & New York & USA, 27/03/2007-08/07/2007

Moments of Vision - Venice and the Islamic World, L'Institut du Monde Arabe & Paris & France, 28/01/2007-22/04/2007 ...More

Bellini and the East, National Gallery, London, 12/04/2006-25/06/2006

Bellini and the East, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, USA, 15/12/2005-26/03/2006

The Value of Art, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 24/06/1999-30/08/1999 ...Less

Literature

The Value of Art, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1999

Inscriptions

Inscription: signed by the artist in Arabic and Roman script : 'AMELLIMALEMAMVD' (work of the Master Mahmud)

Inscription: Arabic: The work of the master Mahmud who hopes for pardon/forgiveness from his Lord

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