Basra: Copper Workers
Date: 686-89 or 783-86
A copper alloy ewer in the Georgian State Museum in Tbilisi carries an inscription around the rim stating that it was made in either 67 (686-87) or 69 (688-89). The reading of Basra as the place of manufacture has been contested. The date may be missing the century, meaning that the year could be 167 (783-84) or 169 (785-86). See also: Blacksmith; Inlayer; Silversmith; Goldsmith; Copper Beater; Potter.
Citation: Shela Blair, Islamic Inscriptions (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998), pp. 117-118, fig. 9.52.
Date: 985-91
In his Aḥsan al-taqāsīm fi maʿrifat al-aqālīm, al-Muqaddasi (d. 991) notes that al-rāsikhit was made in Basra. Al-Rāsikhit is a metal alloy principally containing copper, from which needles and knives are made. See also: Founder; Copper Beater; Needle Maker.
Citation: Muqaddasi, Muhammad ibn Ahmad. Aḥsan al-taqāsīm fi maʿrifat al-aqālīm (Cairo: Maktabat Madbili, 1991), vol. 3, p. 128.