
Oliver White
Head of Department
£2,000 - £3,000
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Head of Department
Provenance: Sotheby's, 28th May and 1st June 1987, 574, ill.
amara al-Amir/ Qurra nisf/ mikyal/ nabidh
"Ordered the Amir/ Qurra a half-/measure/ of wine"
Qurra b. Sharik is the first official known to have issued measures for specific commodities. Three are published, for all fat (duhn)(see Miles, 1948, 2, PL. XII)
The word mikyal, though less common that the other feminine derivitive (masdar) from the same root mikyala appears on a number of stamps, but the hald-mikyal "half-measure" denomination is otherwise unknown.
For the meaning of nabidh see Morton, 1985, 501. In old publications this word was read sukk a kind of aromatic. Morton (1985, p. 33-35) put an end to the long lasting "Pharmaceutical Theory" by demonstrating that the commodities named on the stamps were ordinary products sold in everyday markets and included alcoholic beverages.