Middle East, Metalwork. Tray, brass with engraved Mamluk-style decoration of radial Arabic calligraphy panels, foliate scrolls and plaitwork, Arabic inscription on the outer border gives the owner's name Muhriz Chorbaji and date 1118H or 1706-07, possibly Egypt or Syria, 1500-1700

TRAY. Copper, dipped in lead, engraved with two concentric bands between which is an Arabic inscription contained in three ovals divided by three medallions. In margin owner’s name and date 1118 A.H. From Cairo. Saracenic. A.D. 1706. Diam. 8 5/8 in. Bought (St. Maurice Collⁿ), 15s.

Description taken from ‘List of Objects in the Art Division, South Kensington Museum acquired during the Year 1884’. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1885. p. 88

Bought from the collection of Gaston de Saint-Maurice (1831-1905) in 1884. Saint-Maurice displayed his extensive art collection at the 1878 Paris exhibition, in a gallery entitled L'Egypte des Khalifes. This was part of an official sequence of displays celebrating the history of Egypt, presented by the Egyptian state at this international event. Saint-Maurice held a position at the Khedival court, and had lived in Cairo in 1868-1878. Following the exhibition, Saint-Maurice offered his collection for sale to the South Kensington Museum (today the V&A).

930-1884