A fine and rare Mughal cast brass magic bowl inscribed with Ayat al Kursi, Asma' al-Husna and Sura Ya Sin, India, first half 17th century

cast of high-quality bell-metal, the bowl with rounded walls, moulded rim and foot, and raised domical centre, the interior incised in naskh script with the whole of Sura Ya Sin and eight further lines of combinations of magic numbers and letters, the exterior incised with the twelve signs of the zodiac regularly spaced with figures in Akbar-period turbans separated by Qur'anic verses, prayers and other pious phrases, the base with concave domical recess

Calligraphy in the Arts of the Muslim World, Asia Society New York: the Cincinnati Art Museum; the Seattle Art Museum; and the St. Louis Art Museum, 1979
The Indian Heritage. Court Life under Mughal Rule,The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1982
Sacred Symbols of Islam, Harvard Art Museums, 1980-81
Saints, Shrines Pilgrimages, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University, 1991
Glory and Prosperity: Metalwork in the Islamic World, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University, 2002

Welch A.1979, pp.186-7, no.80
London 1982, p.148, no.495

warm colour and rich patination, excellent condition, some rubbing, as viewed
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The inscriptions include:

Qur'an: Surat al-Baqara (II), verses 255 (the Ayat al-Kursi, (The Throne Verse) -256; the whole of Sura Ya Sin (XXXVI)

Qur'an, Surat al-Mumin (XL), verse 60

And Asma' al-Husna ("The most beautiful names of Allah").

This is an extremely rare example of an early Mughal magic bowl. When Anthony Welch published and exhibited the piece in 1979, he described it thus: "The bowl, thick with verses from the Qur'an (stressing Allah's omnipotence and role as sole creator and giver of eternal life), prayers for aid, cabalistic numbers and letters, and astrological figures, is charged with formidable talismanic power of varied sorts and would seem to have been most likely used in the care of the sick." ( Welch A. 1979, p.186).