An important Mamluk brass basin made for Khawand al-Kubra Fatima, Mamluk Sultana, wife of Sultan al-Ashraf Qaytbay (r.1468-96), Egypt, last quarter 15th century

of deep rounded form with inverted sides and vertical rim, the interior with lions and deer within a lush vegetal ground with stylised palm trees and pinecone trees, the exterior with calligraphic cartouches and roundels as well as armorial roundels on a ground of interlacing split-palmettes, the underside featuring more fauna, including lions, deer, gazelles and birds amidst a dense vegetal ground, traces of inlay and black bitumen residue

In fairly good condition, some dents in basin, few cracks with old repairs, some oxidisation and discoloration, notably to interior, the underside rubbed with missing decoration as a result, as viewed.
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inscriptions

In the four cartouches: 
mimma umila bi-rasm dhat al-sitr al-rafi’ wa al-hijab al-mani’ khwand al-kabiri (sic) [al-kubra] / jihat (sic) al-maqam al-sharif mawlana al-sultan/ al-malik al-ashraf abu’l-nasr qaytbay
‘One of what was made for the possessor of the refined veil and inaccessible modesty, Khwand al-Kubra (a term used for the chief wife of a Sultan), wife of the noble authority, our lord, the Sultan al-Malik al-Ashraf Abu’l-Nasr Qaytbay’

The two alternating tripartite medallions, including the Blazon of Sultan Qaytbay: 
al-sultan al-malik al-ashraf/ abu’l-nasr qaytbay / ‘azza nasrahu
‘al-Sultan al-Malik al-Ashraf Abu’l-Nasr Qaytbay, may his victory be glorified’

The Mamluk Sultan al-Ashraf Saif al-Din Qaytbay was single-handedly responsible for the revival of Mamluk art and architecture during the late fifteenth century. In addition to building a plethora of monuments in Cairo and in the Mamluk provinces, many traditional decorative crafts were revived in order to furnish the new buildings with dazzling objects. Metalwork in particular re-emerged from a profound crisis with a great variety of styles differing from the typical inlaid Mamluk objects of the fourteenth century.

Metalwork made for the Sultan himself mirrored Qaytbay’s pious attitudes as it was made to ornate his palaces and mosques. Decoration on objects made for the Sultan such as the candlesticks made for the Holy shrine in Medina, is normally composed of bold calligraphic inscriptions and ornaments, lacking any sort of figural elements. However, during the reign of Qaytbay, there was a patron who commissioned objects inlaid and engraved with flamboyant depictions of animals: Khawand Fatima, the wife of the Sultan. The power she held during her husband’s Sultanic tenure, her rise and fall from grace after her death, and her vast financial assets are all aspects of her life discussed in details by many scholars (see Petry 2004, pp.277-294). Furthermore, there are strong indications that the mosque of Fatima Shaqra, also known as the mosque al-Mar’a, which started a period of great decorative innovations in Cairo, was most probably dedicated to Khawand Fatima (See De Giosa (forthcoming publication), as well as Behrens-Abouseif 2007, p.142). Khawand Fatima was descendent from a khassbak, a Mamluk title assigned to royal pages, and was already wealthy when betrothed to Qaytbay, maintaining and increasing her wealth during her time as Sultana. She was also, on her return from Hajj, the only woman to receive a royal treatment during the procession back to the citadel when a bird and a parasol topped her palanquin. Until that point, time emblems were only granted to the Sultans (Petry 1991, pp.122-142). It is not surprising to think of such a powerful woman as someone who could have dwelt in the world of the arts and crafts of the period. When Van Ghistele visited Cairo in 1482, one of the first people he met was Francisco Todisco, a goldsmith from Mechelen (Malines) in the Flanders who, as Van Ghistele understood, was very close not only to the Sultan but also to the Sultana herself (Van Ghistele (ed.) 1970, p.16).

There a number of metal objects dedicated to Sultana Fatima in Museums and/or private collections around the world, as follows:

1. A brass ewer inlaid with gold and silver in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, inv. no. 762-1900

2. A brass basin in the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, inv. no. 15086
(formerly in the Harari collection).

3. A brass basin in the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, inv. no. 4120

4. A brass plate/dish (ex-Sioufi collection), Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo
According to Wiet’s catalogue of 1932, the inscriptions on this dish are the same as the ones found on the other objects for Khawand Fatima. (Gaston Wiet, Catalogue du musée d’art arabe, objects en cuivre, 1932, p.236; Sobernheim, Zeitschrift der deutschen palastinavereins (ZDPV) XXVIII, p.191).

5. A brass candlestick in the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, inv. no. MW 17-2
This object was first published when it was still part of the Rambert Rat collection by Wiet in Syria, Tome 47 fascicule 3-4, 1970, pp.345-355. It was then sold in these rooms, 16 October 1997, lot 17, and subsequently published by James Allan in Metalwork Treasures from the Islamic Courts, Doha, 2002.

6. A brass candlestick in the Musée d’Histoire, Bern
L.A. Mayer, 'Zwei Syro-Egyptische Leuchter XXVIII', p.191, in Bernischen Historischen Museum, offprint of Jahrbuch der Bernischen Historischen, no.358, Museums in Bern, XVI, pp.3-4.

The present basin is seventh on this small and exclusive list, substantially sharing all the decorative features of objects 1 and 2. Given the homogeneity of design, it seems likely that it was 'paired' with object number 2. Likewise object number 1, the ewer, must have been used in conjunction either with basin number 2 or 3, or both. If this is true, there is one ewer unaccounted for which should have been used in conjunction with the second basin (2 or 3 depending on which was paired with the V&A ewer). Of the seven known extant objects dedicated to Sultana Fatima, three (including the one studied here) have depictions of animals. It is important to mention that there is also one piece of the period at the British Museum which follows the same repertory in the depiction of animals, plants and trees.

The term Khawand al-Kubra on the inscription proves that the ewer must be dedicated to Fatima and not Asalbay, the concubine with whom Qaytbay fathered al-Nasir Muhammad, as Fatima was Qaytbay's only legal spouse, hence the Khawand al-Kubra, a Mamluk term equivalent to the modern 'First Lady' (see explanation in Wiet 1970. pp.345-355). 

The most interesting designs on this basin are to be found on its repoussé underside and on the interior. On the underside, the decoration with its almost bucolic, if slightly chaotic scenes do not recall anything seen before on Mamluk metalwork, and in any case not with a similar design composition. Arabesques, animals, trees and plants seem to chase each other and compete for space on the bottom of the basin. The animals include lions, deer, gazelle and many different birds. The interesting vegetal decorations found on the basin are a 'pinecone' cypress tree, a stylised palm tree, a twirling olive branch, and large cherry blossom tree which is the true signature motif of this piece. All these elements are also found on the V&A ewer as well on the basin at the MIA in Cairo. The composition is divided into two bands; on the larger band the scenes with animals and plants are alternated by what appears to be blazons with two facing lions turning towards each other and giving the impression to have one head. This could well be the 'secret' blazon of the Sultana as it appears also on the other basin too, but alas without a literary proof that she had a blazon assigned to her; at present this remains a speculation. The other larger medallions appear to contain a bird that looks like a large peacock or a mythical bird. In some instances animals like lions are surmounted by birds, a feature also found in the MIA basin and on the British Museum piece. A second smaller band is also arranged concentrically; this time the main protagonists of the ensemble are large birds, including a couple of birds of prey in a front-facing pose rather than a lateral one. The same assortment of plants and animals is also found on the inside of the basin with the decoration comprising repeated scenes of passant felines chasing gazelles and other antilopinae animals.

The V&A ewer and the basin at the MIA are connected to the basin under study in that not only they are dedicated to the same patron, they also share the same dedicatory inscription and widely share decorative motifs and arrangements as well decorative techniques. In fact, the basin in the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo (inv. no. 4120), is almost identical to this basin, except for a few minor differences in the design and inscriptive cartouches, and most notably, in the blazons, particularly as the Sultan’s epigraphic blazon is absent on the MIA basin, replaced by a similar blazon with a lion attacking a gazelle. This could also be the 'secret' blazon for the Sultana - if indeed Khawand Fatima had one assigned to her - although the two lions with one head is a stronger option as it appears in both basins.

As an object of undisputed historical value, the present basin represents an important academic discovery in Mamluk art adding to the known corpus of metalwork of the period. It testifies to Qaytbay’s promotion of a craft not only through his own commissions but also by allowing his closest circle, in this case, Khawand Fatima, to realise their own artistic pursuits.