Ewer with the name of Sultan Salâh al-Dîn Yûsuf

This ewer belonging to a series, is of a pyriform shape divided into panels, with a flared, annulated neck, a flat polygonal mouth and a straight, tubular pouring spout. It is furnished with a facetted handle, ringed at the lower part, with a cubic thumbstall surmounted by a knob. Its flanged base has possibly been renewed. Epigraphic bands surround the neck; a broad area of decoration, embellished with an inscription in Nashkrî on a background of foliage, covers the upper part of the body. Underneath, there are two small bands embellished with leaves and animals which serve to frame the ten multifoiled medallions furnished with interlacing with foliated points, inscribed on each of the facets. An inscription traced on the shoulder mentions the sponsor: Salâh al-Dîn Yûsuf, sultan ayyubide d’Alep [Saladin] (1237-1260)[1].

The object was signed and dated at the base of the neck by its engraver, Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Mawsilî[2] (Mosul), and confirms, along with other signatures found on Ayyubid and Mameluke bronzes, the migration of the Mosul copperware manufacturer and retailers to the Egyptian and Syrian centres in the 13th century, taking their techniques with them. The technique of metal inlay of which the craftsman of Mosul were masters, itself came from the copperware manufacturers from the east of Iran, chased from their lands by the mongol invasions. It should be noted however that it was already known in Roman and Sassanid times and that Mosul probably had its own copperware manufacturing traditions. Whatever the case, the ewer borrows most of its motifs and graphic style from eastern Persia. The animal friezes on the foliage background are characteristic of Khurasan decoration, and it is perhaps due to an imperfect imitation of Iranian graphic style, that the two votive inscriptions engraved on the neck are incoherent. Still on the neck, in the median band, we can see Kufic script braided with parallel strokes which is traditional for bronze workers from Khurasan.

On the other hand, the medallions stand out with an empty background, which is an innovation, no longer harbouring small figurative scenes drawn from the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi (the Epic of Kings). Before that they were fairly frequently found on Ayyubid copperware, for example on the “Blacas” ewer[3] dated 1232 and signed by Shûja ibn Mana al-Mawsilî, or on the “Ewer with Christian and Islamic Imagery”[4] from the al-Dhakî workshop (see notice). The fashion for these Persian subjects used on bronzes in the Arabian Near-East had doubtless passed. The date of manufacture: 1258-1259, places Salâh al-Dîn Yûsuf's ewer at the time of the mongol invasion of Iraq, the capture of Baghdad and the end of the Abbasid caliphate.  The Atabeg (governor) of Mosul, Badr al-Dîn Lu'lu’ (1224-1259), made multiple oaths of allegiance to Hulagu Khan and saved his capital. Damascus and Aleppo, left without defence, were sacked. In these closing years of the Ayyubid reign, the ewer records these changes, in the choice of decoration. The importance given to the Naskri script foreshadows the Mameluke style.

These metal receptacles, ornamented with inlaid images, did not remain in the Arabian Near East. Very sought after in the Latin West, they were the subject of major orders in the markets of Damascus, Aleppo or Alexandria. Later still, their form, technique and decorative script would be imitated by the Venetian bronze-ware workers.

[2]The word « al-Mawsilî » from « Mosul » is a  nisba : a term which completes the name and indicates the place of the person’s origin.

[3] British Museum (inv. 1866 12-29 61)

[4] Paris, Musée des Arts décoratifs (inv. 4413).