Lot 73
A rare Ayyubid bronze magic bowl depicting the ka'ba Egpyt or Syria, 13th/ 14th Century
25 October 2021, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £31,500 inc. premium
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A rare Ayyubid bronze magic bowl depicting the ka'ba
Egpyt or Syria, 13th/ 14th Century
Egpyt or Syria, 13th/ 14th Century
of shallow rounded form engraved to the interior with a roundel containing the Ka'ba surrounded by partial cartouches filled with inscriptions, two further concentric bands of foliate motifs overlaid with inscriptions, the rim with a band of inscription, the exterior with an inscription-filled roundel to the centre surrounded by alternating inscription-filled roundels and flaring inscription-filled cartouches, a further band of inscription near rim
13.4 cm. diam.
13.4 cm. diam.
Footnotes
Inscriptions: quotes from the Qur'an, including chapter I (al-Fatihah), short prayers, what this bowl is good for and magic texts; in the panel above the Ka'ba, the shahadah.
Depictions of the Ka'ba on early magic bowls are rare, and through the known examples it is clear that production of copies of Ayyubid prototypes continued over a long period of time. The decoration to the reverse of the present lot is closely related to that on a smaller bowl in the Khalili Collection dated to the 13th/ 14th Century (see Francis Maddison & Emilie Savage-Smith, Science, Tools & Magic, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, Part One, pp. 86-7, no. 28), whilst another example in the British Museum is dated to the 18th/ 19th Century (1911,1026.9). For a list of other known examples depicting the ka'ba see op. cit. p. 73, note 11 (found on p. 79).