Incense Burner
1250-1300 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This fine incense burner held scented materials such as sandalwood and frankincense. They were burned in a brass tray under the pierced lid. The perfume given off helped to create a refined setting for life at court. Court life also required singers, musicians and bottles of wine, all depicted on the roundels on the lid.
Metalworkers often transformed objects made from brass by decorating them with sophisticated inlaid surface ornament. This piece was made when the inlay technique was at its peak.
For larger motifs, they chiselled out small areas of brass and filled them with thin sheets of silver (as here), gold and copper. They added details were added by chasing the surface of the softer metals and created contrast with a black filler. The results were, for metalwork, an unusually graphic form of decoration, often of great quality.
Metalworkers often transformed objects made from brass by decorating them with sophisticated inlaid surface ornament. This piece was made when the inlay technique was at its peak.
For larger motifs, they chiselled out small areas of brass and filled them with thin sheets of silver (as here), gold and copper. They added details were added by chasing the surface of the softer metals and created contrast with a black filler. The results were, for metalwork, an unusually graphic form of decoration, often of great quality.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
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| Materials and techniques | Brass, pierced and inlaid with silver |
| Brief description | Brass incense burner with three feet inlaid with courtly scenes, Egypt or Syria, 1250-1300. |
| Physical description | Brass incense burner, pierced and inlaid with gold and silver, with domed lid and human feet. Lid features seated figures in three roundels with pierced decoration on a band of intricate arabesques alternating with smaller medallions composed of the "Y" motif. A raised band of braid separates the central container from the lid. The body contains three bands of arabesque decoration with two small medallions and one band of inscription alternating with larger medallions featuring hunting scenes. On one side there is a lobed plaque nailed to the body. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Marks and inscriptions | (Arabic inscription, around body of vessel.) |
| Gallery label |
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| Credit line | Salting Bequest |
| Historical context | Incense burners appear in a variety of forms, zoomorphic, globe-shaped and cylindrical mounted on three legs. Simpler types in bronze date to the 11th-12th century Iran but the separate lid and body is a later feature of the 13th century, as is the more elaborate inlay decoration. There is a similar example in the Nuhad Es-Said Collection. |
| Production | Mamluk |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This fine incense burner held scented materials such as sandalwood and frankincense. They were burned in a brass tray under the pierced lid. The perfume given off helped to create a refined setting for life at court. Court life also required singers, musicians and bottles of wine, all depicted on the roundels on the lid. Metalworkers often transformed objects made from brass by decorating them with sophisticated inlaid surface ornament. This piece was made when the inlay technique was at its peak. For larger motifs, they chiselled out small areas of brass and filled them with thin sheets of silver (as here), gold and copper. They added details were added by chasing the surface of the softer metals and created contrast with a black filler. The results were, for metalwork, an unusually graphic form of decoration, often of great quality. |
| Bibliographic reference | E. Atil et al., Islamic Metalwork in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1985, cat. no. 12, figs. 34-35. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | M.709:1 to 2-1910 |
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| Record created | October 6, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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