Mosul: Inlayers of Metalwork

Date: 1246-47

The name of Yunus b. Yusuf al-naqqāsh al-Mawṣilī (“decorator of Mosul”) appears on an ewer, which is now in the Walters Gallery in Baltimore. See also: Blacksmith; Metalworker; Artisan of Brass; Artisan of Silver; Mortar Maker; Silversmith; Tinsmith; Inlayer of Metalwork.

Citation: Mayer, Leo Ary. Islamic Metalworkers and their Works (Geneva: Albert Kundig, 1959), p. 90.

Date: 1252-53

Daʾud b. Salama decorated a basin for Amir Badr al-Din Baysari, which is now in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. See also: Blacksmith; Metalworker; Artisan of Brass; Artisan of Silver; Mortar Maker; Silversmith; Tinsmith; Decorator of Metal Vessels.

Citation: Mayer, Leo Ary. Islamic Metalworkers and their Works (Geneva: Albert Kundig, 1959), p. 41.

Date: 1255-56

An inlaid brass pen box in the David Collection is inscribed with the date 653 H (1255-56 CE). The inscription also states that the piece was engraved in Mosul by ʿAli ibn Yahya al-Mawsili. The only other example of inlaid metalwork of this period to state explicitly that it was made in Mosul is the Blacas ewer, now in the British Museum. See also: Copper Founder; Copper Beater; Blacksmith; Silversmith.

Citation: David Collection online catalogue:

https://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic/materials/metal/art/6-1997 (last consulted: 16 January 2021). 

B

Date: c. 1274-75

ʿAli b. Hammud al-Naqqāsh al-Mawṣilī (“decorator of Mosul”) decorated a bronze ewer and a bronze basin for Amir Atmish al-Saʿdi. They may have been found near Hamadan in 1908, but now are in the Archaeological Museum in Tehran. See also: Blacksmith; Metalworker; Artisan of Brass; Artisan of Silver; Mortar Maker; Silversmith; Tinsmith; Decorator of Metal Vessels; Inlayer of Metalwork.

Citation: Mayer, Leo Ary. Islamic Metalworkers and their Works (Geneva: Albert Kundig, 1959), pp. 33-34.

Date: 1280s

While working in Cairo the craftsman ʿAli ibn Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Mawsili was drawing on designs with Mosul origins. He used a double-T-fret, which is also found on the Blacas Ewer the Munich Ewer, and on a candlestick dated to 1282. See also: Sword Inlayer; Blacksmith; Metal Worker; Copper Worker; Artisan of Brass.

Citation: Raby, Julian. “The principle of parsimony and the problem of ‘the Mosul school of metalwork’,” in Venetia Porter and Mariam Rosser-Owen, eds, Metalwork and Material Culture in the Islamic World: Art, Craft, and Text: Essays presented to James W. Allan (London: I.B. Tauris, 2012), p. 41.

B

Date: Mid-thirteenth century

ʿAli b. ʿAbdallah al-ʿAlawi al-Naqqāsh al-Mawṣilī (“decorator of Mosul”) is named on a basin and a ewer. Both objects are now in the Staatliche Museen in Berlin. See also: Blacksmith; Metalworker; Artisan of Brass; Artisan of Silver; Mortar Maker; Silversmith; Tinsmith; Decorator of Metal Vessels.

Citation: Mayer, Leo Ary. Islamic Metalworkers and their Works (Geneva: Albert Kundig, 1959), p. 32.