MAMLUK REVIVAL SILVER INLAID BRASS QUR'AN BOX (SUNDUQ)
LATE 19TH CENTURY
£4,500
Fine Furniture and Works of Art
Auction: 27 September 2017 at 11:00 BST
Description
of square form with a coffered hinged cover mounted with pinned strapwork to the corners, raised on flattened round feet; the sides and cover decorated throughout with panels of thuluth and kufic script with floral and foliate scrolls and arabesques, the interior lined with carved wood panels with a central inscription cartouche
Dimensions
32cm wide, 22cm high, 32cm deep
Footnote
Note: The side panels contain in thuluth calligraphy verse 255, chapter two of the Qur'an, while the cover is centred by a Mamluk honorific plaque to the Sultan and King.
The late 19th century witnessed an interest in Mamluk revival work. Seen as a golden age in Egypt's history, the Mamluk era provided the basis for a new sense of territorial nationality.
The original model for this box may be the example in the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo, and published in 'Islamic Art in Egypt', exhibition catalogue, Cairo, 1969, no. 9. Another 14th century Mamluk Qur'an box of similar design is published in F.Sarre and F.R.Martin, 'Die Ausstellung von Meisterwerken Muhammedanischer Kunst in München 1910', London, 1985, Tafel 156.