{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O107635"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O107635/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AY9360/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AY9360/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AY9360","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CE0462","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CE0461","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CE0460","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CE0459","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CE0458","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CE0457","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CE0456","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CE0455","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CE0454","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BG4621","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AY9359","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AY9358","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AY9357","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AY9356","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AY9355","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AY9354","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AY9353","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JY0625","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KL6355","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019LX2097","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O107635/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O107635","accessionNumber":"2734-1856","objectType":"Basin","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This interior of this basin features a row of medallions showing various humans and animals. The medallions are set between two bands of Arabic inscriptions. In the centre is a large scene depicting people in a boat.\r\n\r\nThe decoration is in a style that developed during the first century of Mamluk rule in Egypt and Syria (1250–1350). This was when the sultanate was at the height of its power. The secular decoration on objects like this shows that they were made for palaces rather than religious buildings.\r\n\r\nAt first, scenes with human figures were common. These disappeared after 1300, and elegant inscriptions in Arabic became more prominent. The texts all name the patron or glorify the sultan.","physicalDescription":"Basin with a cylindrical body and an everted rim, copper alloy, probably brass, hammered from sheet, the decoration engraved and inlaid with silver and gold and a black compound, much of it now lost. Almost the entire surface, including the base, is covered with decoration. The only exception is where areas have been left blank to enhance the decoration.  Long inscriptions in Arabic, five in all, appear against a floral arabesque. On the interior of the walls, two of these inscriptions run around the top and bottom, framing a series of 12 roundels with varied scenes, set against a fretwork pattern. The roundels show\n-- a mounted huntsman, with a falcon on his extended left arm, a cheetah seated behind him on the horse and a dog running alongside\n-- three musicians seated on an elephant\n-- a lion attacking a horse from behind, while the rider turns to despatch it with a long sword\n-- a symmetrical composition of bird and animal elements, including two long-tailed birds, a beast with two dragon's heads, and a lion mask\n-- a figure on horseback transfixing a lion with a lance\n-- an armed man on foot running towards a lion brandishing a sword\n-- an armed horseman attacking a dragon, whose head alone is depicted \n-- two \"sphinxes\" (winged equines with human heads) arranged symmetrically, back to back\n-- a mounted huntsman with a falcon on his extended left arm\n-- a ruler enthroned, with two lions before the throne, a sword bearer and seated vizier to the right and two attendants standing to the left, one with a large writing box\n-- an armed horseman in combat with an armed man on foot to the left\n-- a man riding a camel with a second person, apparently playing a drum, sitting behind him on the rump of the beast\nA third inscription frames a large, circular scene on the inside of the base, where almost all the inlay has been lost and the depth of the engraving reduced, probably worn away by use over an extended period. The scene depicts hunting for wild fowl in a sailing boat, with a dragon's head at the stern and a palmette shape at the prow. The air above the boat is filled with birds, and two men stand in the prow, firing arrows upwards from their bows. A man shown swimming in front of the boat may be retrieving the birds they have downed. A fourth figure, standing to the left of the two huntsmen stoops as he cuts a bird's neck. To the left of the mast are three oarsmen, while an eighth man climbs the mast as he furls the sail. The body of water over which they sail is shown full of fish and two large beasts, a crab to the left and a reptile with a long tail on the right. \nTwo inscriptions also frame the exterior walls of the basin, top and bottom. Between them are two staggered rows of  smaller medallions, each showing a single musician, singer, dancer or other figure who would have participated in a princely entertainment. The five inscriptions all consist of long sequences of good wishes, understood to be for the owner, and these include elements such as \"victory over enemies\" that also indicate that the basin was intended for an owner of princely rank. \n","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[{"text":"hammering","id":"AAT54098"},{"text":"inlay","id":"AAT53850"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Islam","id":"THES48932"},{"text":"Africa","id":"THES49019"}],"styles":[{"text":"Mamluk","id":"AAT21601"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"MES","id":"THES48607"},"images":["2006AY9360","2009CE0462","2009CE0461","2009CE0460","2009CE0459","2009CE0458","2009CE0457","2009CE0456","2009CE0455","2009CE0454","2006BG4621","2006AY9359","2006AY9358","2006AY9357","2006AY9356","2006AY9355","2006AY9354","2006AY9353","2017JY0625","2017KL6355","2019LX2097"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"42","id":"THES49806"},"free":"","case":"16","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Basin","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1250-1300","earliest":"1250-01-01","latest":"1300-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"20.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"47.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"The inscriptions consist of a repetition of these good wishes:\r\nوالعزا والبقا والظفر بالاعدا ودوام النعما والرفعة والارتقا والمجد والعلا  والشكر والثنا والنصر بالاعدا والسلامة الباقية والنعمة الكاملة والدولة الدائمة \r\nThe good wishes are continuous, so there is no clear starting point. The letters are undotted, <i>hamzat al-qat'</i> is omitted, and <i>alif</i> <i>maqsurah</i> is written consistently as <i>alif</i>.  ","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Basin with a boating scene, Syria or the Jazirah, about 1250-1300.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Stanley Lane-Poole, <i>The Art of the Saracens in Egypt</i>, London, 1886, pp. 216-17."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"boat","id":"AAT178749"},{"text":"fish","id":"x30068"},{"text":"animals","id":"x30274"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Jameel Gallery \r\n\r\nBasin with Boating Scene\r\nEgypt or Syria\r\n1250-1350\r\n\r\nThis basin is decorated in a similar manner to that on the left, but the ornament was organised in a different manner. A row of medallions on the interior, showing various humans and animals, is set between two bands of Arabic inscriptions. In the centre is a large scene depicting people in a boat.\r\n\r\nBrass inlaid with silver and a black composition\r\n\r\nMuseum no. 2734-1856","date":{"text":"Jameel Gallery","earliest":"2006-07-20","latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["2734-1856"],"accessionNumberNum":"2734","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1856,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-25","recordCreationDate":"2004-12-07","availableToBook":false}}