An Ayyubid silver-inlaid cast-brass incense burner, Jazira or Syria, mid-13th century

the cylindrical body on three short stylised feet, with silver-inlaid and engraved design of interlinked roundels each containing a musician, between two bands of braiding, heightened with a black compound in background, mount for handle, the openwork lid with lobed medallions containing birds and inscription around knop-form finial

The Aron Collection, London

J.W. Allan, Metalwork of the Islamic World: The Aron Collection, Sotheby's, London, 1986, pp.70-3, no. 2. 

In good general condition, the lid with one break near rim, section where hinge would have been with plaque probably added later, oxidisation to surface and losses to silver-inlay, the body missing the handle, with plate that would have held the handle in place with slight breaks (this was possibly itself a slightly later restoration as may have broken more than once over time, the interior of well with many scratches, patches of oxidisation, small nicks, losses to silver-inlay, the lid does not completely fit perfectly to body due to minor dents, as viewed.
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inscriptions

Possibly:
al-‘izz al-da[‘im] …. Al-da’im wa al-salim wa al-da’im
‘Perpetual glory …. And perpetual and safe and perpetual ….’

The format of this incense burner, standing on three feet and with an openwork domed lid, is typical of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, notably in Iraq, Egypt and even Persia. Islamic incense burners came in various shapes and forms; this specific style recalls influences from the Umayyad dynasty and in turn likely influenced by earlier Byzantine models. The later Byzantine and Umayyad models were, however, not inlaid, and made of bronze alloy.

Over fifty incense burners of this present type and period survive today. (R. Ward, (ed.), Court and Craft: A Masterpiece from Northern Iraq 2014, Exhibition Catalogue, London, 2014, p.138). Originally the container would have had a long handle affixed to it for ease of usage, and a tray on the underside of the body for holding the charcoal. Cast in two parts, the cylindrical container with three legs and domed lid would have been created with piece moulds to allow several vessels of identical shape and size to be created. Burners of this kind are almost all missing the long handle, separately cast, that would have been riveted to the body, visible here by the remnants of the mounting.

The hollow body is decorated with seven figures in interlacing roundels and can be viewed from all angles, consisting of a seated tambourine player; a seated drinker; a dancer with long sleeves; a kneeling lute player; a kneeling flautist and a seated zither player, with the spaces in-between containing arabesques, framed above and below with strap work giving a sense of horizontal plane to the seated figures (J.W Allan, Metalwork of the Islamic World, The Aron Collection, London, 1986 p.70). All of the silver inlays are further engraved to show the detail of the figures, underscoring the movement in their dance or musical practice. A similar example of the musicians can be found on both the upper and lower parts of the body of a candle stick in the Cairo Museum. (D. Jones & G.Michell, (eds.), The Arts of Islam: Hayward Gallery, 8 April-4 July 1976, Exhibition Catalogue, London, 1976 p.183). The base rests on three anthropomorphic legs whilst the finial is decorated with interlaced stems and lancette leaves.

An incense burner in the David Collection is a similar example to ours, although the holes to allow smoke to escape have been clumsily pierced through the silver inlay, suggesting the object may have been transported and worked on by a metalworker unskilled at cutting away metal in this manner (R. Ward, op.cit., p.139). The current hinged lid is decorated finely with a pierced band of openwork, containing arabesque palmette leaves in a circular geometric arrangement allowing the perfumed smoke to billow upwards. There are three cusped roundels each of which bears a finely engraved eagle. Double headed eagles were found often on Ayyubid metalwork of this period, used as royal emblems and found on coins of the Jazira in the thirteenth century; conversely single headed eagles were much less common. In this case, the faces of the ‘eagles’ on our burner are missing and it is unknown whether they had eagle or human faces depicted, as the latter, human-headed birds or harpies were often found on medieval Islamic objects. A notable example of a single headed eagle in Jaziran metalwork is a mirror bearing the sultanic titles and name of Nur al-Din Urtuq-shah, the ruler of Kharput in 1225 and therefore a Jaziran attribution could be possible. The single headed eagle also appeared in Egypt and Syria as the blazon of the early Mamluks, suggesting that this type of metal work was to influence the later Mamluk burners and other metalwork as many of the decorative features reappear despite the time period that separates them. The inscription on the lid is based on words commonly found on metalwork objects of the period and is similar to that on a Cairene candlestick of c.1270 in the Nuhad Es-Said collection. (J.W Allan, op.cit., p.70).

This style of metal work within the Ayyubid period is relatively rare, lending importance to this specific burner. Two of the most archetypal examples from this era are the Baptistiere of St Louis in the Louvre and the Freer canteen depicting Christian imagery. The scenes depicted here show a more secular setting, suggesting that this piece was used in similarly secular environments such as the Atabeg's salon, showing courtly pursuits.