Antique Mamluk Revival Brass and Silver Inlaid Tray Table

18243: Antique Mamluk Revival Brass and Silver Inlaid Tray Table
Egyptian or Syrian, early 20th century
Height: 45cm, width 82cm, depth 51cm

This handsome tray-top table is a fine example of Mamluk revival metalwork, its brass top densely engraved and inlaid with silver, raised upon a carved hardwood stand. Elaborately worked across its entire surface, the tray demonstrates the sustained skill of the Cairo and Damascus workshops of the period.

The rectangular tray is decorated throughout with hand-chased ornament, the recessed field and raised rim covered in scrolling arabesques, interlacing strapwork and geometric diaper grounds worked in the manner of medieval Islamic metalwork. The composition is organised around a central roundel enclosing the name of God, set within a framework of shaped cartouches and lobed medallions. These panels carry bold inscriptions in thuluth script, reserved against finely hatched grounds and highlighted with silver inlay, which lends a rich contrast of pale metal against the warm brass. Further bands of calligraphy and roundels run around the border, the hatched and pierced infill throughout reflecting the painstaking hand-work characteristic of the best revival wares.

The tray rests on a stand of rectangular form, raised on four square-section legs of chamfered profile and joined beneath the frieze by shaped and scrolled brackets. The warm tone and restrained carving of the hardwood provide a sober counterpoint to the elaborate metalwork above.

The style revives the celebrated inlaid brass and bronze production of Mamluk Cairo and Damascus of the 13th to 15th centuries, whose calligraphic and arabesque vocabulary was widely reinterpreted by workshops in Egypt and Syria during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Produced both for local use and for the European market, such wares, commonly known as Cairoware, answered a broad fascination with Islamic decorative arts, combining traditional techniques of engraving and silver inlay with forms suited to Western interiors.

The inscriptions appear to comprise benedictory and honorific formulae of the type customary on revival metalwork, rather than a securely identified Quranic text; a precise epigraphic reading would require specialist examination. Decorative and substantial in scale, the table would serve equally well as a functional piece or as a display of accomplished Islamic revival craftsmanship.
$6,750