A carved and stained ivory and wood star-form panel, Mamluk Egypt, second half of 15th century

comprised of strips, segments and filaments of wood, metal and ivory pieced together in a wooden frame, the design with a large central tripartite epigraphic roundel filled with sparse leaves, encircled by a polychrome star made up of sixteen triangular micro-mosaic sections enclosed within a larger sixteen-pointed star composed of sixteen trapezoidal sections each enclosing a trefoil motif

Collection of Ernst and Marthe Kofler-Truniger, Lucerne, inv. no. K 493 H/1

inscription

al-sultan al-malik al-ashraf 'azza nasrahu

'The Sultan, al-Malik al-Ashraf, may [God] make his victory glorious'

A number of Mamluk sultans used the title al-Malik al-Ashraf, including: Khalil (1290-93), Kujuk (1341-42), Sha'ban ibn Hasan (1363-76), Barsbay (1422-38), Inal (1453-61), Qaitbay (1468-96), Janbalat (1500-01), Qansuh al-Ghuri (1501-16) and Tumanbay II (1516-17). However, certain stylistic idiosyncracies seen here, notably the three-field division of the epigraphic blazon and the serried disposition of the vertical letter forms, point to a date in the second half of the fifteenth century and the end of the Bahri period.

A carved ivory plaque in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is one half of a sixteen-pointed star, is strikingly similar in construction, composition and technique and can be dated to the mid- to late-fifteenth century (see Atil 1981, no.104, pp.208-9).  More precise dating evidence is provided by a carved epigraphic ivory panel in the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo (inv. no.2334) (published London 1976, no.155, p.156; and, Atil 1981, no.105, p.210), which is closely related in style and scriptual content, but with the telling addition of the name of Sultan Qaitbay (1468-96), for whom a lavish funerary complex was already under construction in the 1470s. This most sumptuous of late Mamluk buildings utilizes the epigraphic blazon as a leitmotiv throughout its decorative programme and it is quite likely that the present ivory was destined for this or another contemporary architectural project, of which there were many initiated by Qaitbay during his comparatively long reign, either as decoration for a door or window, or, most probably, as revetment for a minbar or kursi.

The tripartite blazon of Sultan Qaitbay features on a number of other objects spread across a variety of media, including a large ceramic roundel in the al-Sabah Collection in Kuwait (inv. no. LNS 190 C) (published: Jenkins 1983a, p.85) and related fragments in the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo (inv. no.CM 59; published: O'Kane, B., (ed.), The Treasures of Islamic Art in the Museums of Cairo, Cairo, 2006, no.158, p.181). The tripartite blazon continued to be used by Qaitbay's successors, including Qansuh al-Ghuri (1501-16), though with some loss of quality (see: Atil 1981, no.110, pp.215 and 217; Drouot-Montaigne, Arts d'Orient, Paris, 7 June 1999, lot 109).