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Source Description
This silver inlaid ewer was produced for luxury clientele. The wide band around the body of the vessel displays vignettes of daily and courtly life contained within multilobed medallions. Some of the scenes feature falconry, hunting, dancing, and several groups of musicians. All these scenes are set off against a skillfully executed arabesque background—a pervasive motif in Islamic art characterized by interwoven vegetal and curvilinear elements. An inscription around the ewer’s shoulder extends good fortune, prosperity, and peace to the owner. The ewer is dated 1223 and signed by the master craftsman Ahmad al-Dhaki of Mosul.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
133460
label
Luxury Ewer Extending Good Fortune to the Owner
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
133460
contentType
object
title
Luxury Ewer Extending Good Fortune to the Owner
description
This silver inlaid ewer was produced for luxury clientele. The wide band around the body of the vessel displays vignettes of daily and courtly life contained within multilobed medallions. Some of the scenes feature falconry, hunting, dancing, and several groups of musicians. All these scenes are set off against a skillfully executed arabesque background—a pervasive motif in Islamic art characterized by interwoven vegetal and curvilinear elements. An inscription around the ewer’s shoulder extends good fortune, prosperity, and peace to the owner. The ewer is dated 1223 and signed by the master craftsman Ahmad al-Dhaki of Mosul.
date
1223
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60781109
creators
1254
genreSpecific
Metalwork
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Diameter: 26.6 cm (10 1/2 in.); Overall: 37.9 cm (14 15/16 in.); Diameter of base: 14.5 cm (5 11/16 in.)
cul
Iraq, possibly Mosul, Zangid or Artugid Period, 13th Century
accession
1956.11
Source extras
tec
brass inlaid with silver; lid and base added later
tombstone
Luxury Ewer Extending Good Fortune to the Owner, 1223. Inscribed by Ahmad al-Dhaki al-Mawsili (Iraqi, Mosul, active early 1200s?). Brass inlaid with silver; lid and base added later; diameter: 26.6 cm (10 1/2 in.); overall: 37.9 cm (14 15/16 in.); diameter of base: 14.5 cm (5 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1956.11
collection
Islamic Art
inscriptions
inscription
Band on the neck (naskh): "Work of Ahmad al-Thaki, the engraver, al-Mawsili, in the year 620 and glory to my owner"; band at the base of the handle (naskh): "Work of Ahmad al-Thaki al-Mawsili"; graffiti of later owners, roughly scratched into the neck of the ewer: "Husayn ibn Qasim"; "Usta al-Muhtasib [?]"; band on the shoulder of the ewer (plaited, animated kufic): "Good luck, and learning, and commanding respect, and prosperity, and pride, and generosity, and faithfulness, and affection, and glory, and survival, and justice, and blessings, and exaltedness, and prosperity, and everlasting peace, and charitable giving."; band on the foot (naskh) [foot is a later addition]; this inscription has not yet been deciphered.
inscription_remark
The year 620 on the Islamic calendar is the equivalent of 1223 on the Gregorian calendar.
didYouKnow
Later owners roughly scratched their names into the neck of the ewer.
citations
citation
Rice, D. S. “Inlaid Brasses from the Workshop of Aḥmad Al-Dhakī Al-Mawṣilī.” <em>Ars Orientalis</em>, vol. 2, 1957, pp. 283–326.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: pls. 1-2, 4-5, 15a, 15d, 16f-g; p. 287, figs. 1-2; p. 288, fig. 3; p. 289, fig. 4a-b; p. 290, figs. 5a-b; p. 291, fig. 6; p. 292, fig. 10; p. 294, figs. 11-14; p. 296, figs. 15-18; p. 297, figs. 19-20; p. 300, figs. 25a-c.
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 710
citation
Milliken, William M. “Early Byzantine Silver.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>, vol. 45, no. 3, 1958, pp. 35–94.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 88.
url
www.jstor.org/stable/25142265
citation
Shepherd, Dorothy G. “An Early Inlaid Brass Ewer from Mesopotamia.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>, vol. 46, no. 1, 1959, pp. 2, 4–10.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 2, 4–10.
citation
Vaughan, Malcolm. "Fine Mesopotamian Metalwork." <em>The Connoisseur: an illustrated magazine for collectors</em>, June 1959.
page_number
Mentioned
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 209.
citation
Scerrato, Umberto. <em>Metalli Islamici.</em> Milano: Fabbri, 1966.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 94–95, no. 40.
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 209.
citation
Jones, Dalu, George Michell, Hayward Gallery, and World of Islam Festival Trust. <em>The Arts of Islam: Hayward Gallery, 8 April-4 July 1976</em>. London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1976.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 195, pp. 178–179
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 265.
citation
Shepherd, Dorothy G. “A Treasure from a Thirteenth-Century Spanish Tomb.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>, vol. 65, no. 4, 1978, pp. 111–134.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 123, 133.
citation
Zorzi, Alvise. <em>Marco Polo: Venezia E l’Oriente</em>. Milano: Electa, 1981.
citation
Ghulam, Yousif Mahmud. <em>The Art of Arabic Calligraphy</em>. 2nd ed. Lafayette, CA: Y.M. Ghulam, 1982
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced.
citation
Myers, Bernard S. <em>Encyclopedia of World Art</em>. Volume XVI. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1983.
page_number
Reproduced: fig. 93.
citation
Baer, Eva. <em>Metalwork in Medieval Islamic Art</em>. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1983.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 220, 235, and 240; figs. 182, 193, 197.
citation
Atil, Esin, W. T. Chase, and Paul Jett. <em>Islamic Metalwork in the Freer Gallery of Art</em>. Washington, D.C.: The Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 1985.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 120–121, fig. 47.
citation
Ettinghausen, Richard, Oleg Grabar, and Sheila Blair.<em> The Art and Architecture of Islam, 650-1250</em>. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1987.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 365
citation
Makariou, Sophie. <em>L'orient de Saladin: l'art des Ayyoubides: exposition présentée à l'Institut du monde arabe, Paris, du 23 octobre 2001 au 10 mars 2002</em>. [Paris]: Institut du monde arabe, 2001.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 113, p. 140.
citation
Kana'an, Ruba. "The Biography of a Thirteenth-century Brass Ewer from Mosul." In <em>God Is Beautiful and Loves Beauty: The Object in Islamic Art and Culture</em>, pp. 177-194. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press; Qatar: in association with the Qatar Foundation, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar, 2013.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 180, fig. 156.
citation
Blair, Sheila and Jonathan Bloom. <em>God Is Beautiful and Loves Beauty: The Object in Islamic Art and Culture</em>. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press; Qatar: in association with the Qatar Foundation, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar, 2013.
page_number
Reproduced: fig. 156, p. 180.
citation
Schick, Irvin Cemil. "The Content of Form: Islamic Calligraphy between Text and Representation." In <em>Sign and Design: Script as Image in a Cross-Cultural Perspective (300-1600 CE) (Symposium).</em> Brigitte Bedos-Rezak, and Jeffrey F. Hamburger, eds., 173-194. Washington, D.C: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2016.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 175.
creditline
John L. Severance Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:51:33.706000
sourceId
133460
dept
Islamic Art
coll
Islamic Art
med
brass inlaid with silver; lid and base added later
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
a1fdacf9763529c1