Brass hawking drum, Iran, about 1600.

Cast brass with engraved champlevé decoration, irregularly crossed hatched ground with black composition

Misidentified as a "brass lamp", this brass hawking drum was purchased in Paris as part of "Dr Meymar's Collection", a diverse group of objects sent to France by the Egyptian government, for display at the international exhibition of 1867. In 1869, following discussions at a parliamentary Select Committee in London, the South Kensington Museum (today the V&A) was authorised to buy this collection, with a British government grant.
"Dr Meymar" was Husayn Fahmi (c.1827-1891), also called Husayn Pasha al-Mi`mar or al-Mi`mari (transliterated as "Meymar", meaning architect), a senior official in the Egyptian administration. He was (in 1864) the chief architect of the Majlis al-Tanzim wa'l-Urnatu, a committee in charge of public works in Cairo, and later (1882-5) a member of the Comite de conservation des monuments de l'Art arabe, which oversaw Cairo's historic heritage. Throughout his career, he was responsible for salvage and removal of historic architectural fittings, and for the construction of modern monuments and streets in the Egyptian capital.

The poem on this drum makes it clear that it was used in falconry, an activity restricted to men of the highest rank. The skin stretched over it was 'rosy-coloured'. When beaten, the drum disturbed the birds that were to be the falcons' prey. The swirling bands on the body each contain a different pattern.

This piece illustrates a new type of brassware with fine, engraved decoration that emerged in Iran around 1550. Human and animal motifs, absent since before 1400, reappeared. Stylised plants and other ornament appeared in relief against a hatched ground, originally filled with a black compound. The decoration was often arranged in bands or cartouches that matched the shape of the object. Poetic inscriptions in the elegant ‘nasta’liq’ style of Persian calligraphy were also common.

1060-1869