R - Metropolitan Museum of Art

46. Although previously considered to
be a product of the Mamluk period, this
superb gilded and enameled tazza
appears to stand much more in the earlier,
Ayyubid, tradition. Using datable enamelpainted
objects to establish a chronological
sequence within the history of this
technique in the Muslim world, we can
postulate that the abundance of gilding
on this tazza and the tentative application
of enamel colors in a highly varied palette
(red, blue, yellow, green, white, and
black) are clues suggesting an early
date. These features, combined with the
style, scale, and rich decorative vocabulary
of the designs displayed in the horizontal
bands of varying widths separated
by narrow borders, seem to set this drinking
vessel, which may have been lidded,
quite apart from objects showing precisely
the same technique that were
made under the aegis of the Mamluk
dynasty during the Late Medieval period;
the later pieces are generally larger and
exhibit fewer colors, less gilding, and a
much simpler iconography.
Virtual bestiaries of both real and fantastic
animals, entertainers, geometric
designs, arabesques (three here end in
human heads), and secular inscriptions-all
seen on this tazza-are typically
found on various media from the
first half of the thirteenth century. However,
it is in metalwork that the closest
parallels are encountered, particularly on
those objects made for Sultan al-Malik
al-Nasir II Salah al-Din (1237-60), the last
Ayyubid ruler of Aleppo and Damascus.
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