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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.

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Page
1
Source index
0
Type
photo
Media ID
a1fdacf9763529c1
Size
unknown

Document data

ID
133460
Core
obj
Type
object
DTO data
{
    "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": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1956.11",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q60781109"
    ],
    "creators": [
        1254
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Metalwork"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.11/1956.11_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.11/1956.11_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.11/1956.11_web.jpg",
    "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"
}

Context sent to Scholar

Document identity
{
    "localId": "133460",
    "label": "Luxury Ewer Extending Good Fortune to the Owner",
    "core": "obj",
    "dtoType": "object"
}
Document 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": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1956.11",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q60781109"
    ],
    "creators": [
        1254
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Metalwork"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.11/1956.11_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.11/1956.11_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.11/1956.11_web.jpg",
    "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"
}
Document 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.",
            "url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/4629040"
        },
        {
            "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",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n130"
        },
        {
            "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.",
            "url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25142314"
        },
        {
            "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.",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n233"
        },
        {
            "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.",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n233"
        },
        {
            "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.",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n285"
        },
        {
            "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.",
            "url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25159577"
        },
        {
            "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."
        }
    ],
    "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1956.11",
    "creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
    "updatedAt": "2026-05-29 06:51:33.706000",
    "imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.11/1956.11_print.jpg",
    "sourceId": 133460,
    "dept": "Islamic Art",
    "coll": "Islamic Art",
    "med": "brass inlaid with silver; lid and base added later",
    "creatorTags": [
        "male"
    ],
    "thumbnail_url": null,
    "image_url": null
}
Page context
{
    "seq": 1,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.11/1956.11_web.jpg",
    "mediaId": "a1fdacf9763529c1"
}