id: 133460 accession number: 1956.11 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1956.11 updated: 2022-04-07 09:00:38.889000 Luxury Ewer Extending Good Fortune to the Owner, 1223. Inscribed by Ahmad al-Dhaki al-Mawsili (Iraqi, Mosul, active early 1200s?). Brass inlaid with silver; lid and base added later; diameter: 26.6 cm (10 1/2 in.); overall: 37.9 cm (14 15/16 in.); diameter of base: 14.5 cm (5 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1956.11 title: Luxury Ewer Extending Good Fortune to the Owner title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1223 creation date earliest: 1223 creation date latest: 1223 current location: 116 Islamic creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: Iraq, possibly Mosul, Zangid or Artugid Period, 13th Century technique: brass inlaid with silver; lid and base added later department: Islamic Art collection: Islamic Art type: Metalwork find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Ahmad al-Dhaki al-Mawsili (Iraqi, Mosul, active early 1200s?) - inscription by --- measurements: Diameter: 26.6 cm (10 1/2 in.); Overall: 37.9 cm (14 15/16 in.); Diameter of base: 14.5 cm (5 11/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Band on the neck (naskh): "Work of Ahmad al-Thaki, the engraver, al-Mawsili, in the year 620 and glory to my owner"; band at the base of the handle (naskh): "Work of Ahmad al-Thaki al-Mawsili"; graffiti of later owners, roughly scratched into the neck of the ewer: "Husayn ibn Qasim"; "Usta al-Muhtasib [?]"; band on the shoulder of the ewer (plaited, animated kufic): "Good luck, and learning, and commanding respect, and prosperity, and pride, and generosity, and faithfulness, and affection, and glory, and survival, and justice, and blessings, and exaltedness, and prosperity, and everlasting peace, and charitable giving."; band on the foot (naskh) [foot is a later addition]; this inscription has not yet been deciphered. translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: L'Orient de saladin opening date: 2001-10-22T00:00:00 L'Orient de saladin. Institut du Monde Arabe, 75236 Paris Cedex 05, France (organizer) (October 22, 2001-March 10, 2002). title: Art of the Islamic World (Islamic art rotation) opening date: 2021-05-21T04:00:00 Art of the Islamic World (Islamic art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (May 21, 2021-May 31, 2022). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Arts of Islam. The Arts Council of Great Britain, Hayward Gallery, London (1976). --- PROVENANCE (Raphaël Stora [1888–1963], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?-1956 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1956- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: Later owners roughly scratched their names into the neck of the ewer. digital description: wall description: This silver inlaid ewer was produced for luxury clientele. The wide band around the body of the vessel displays vignettes of daily and courtly life contained within multilobed medallions. Some of the scenes feature falconry, hunting, dancing, and several groups of musicians. All these scenes are set off against a skillfully executed arabesque background—a pervasive motif in Islamic art characterized by interwoven vegetal and curvilinear elements. An inscription around the ewer’s shoulder extends good fortune, prosperity, and peace to the owner. The ewer is dated 1223 and signed by the master craftsman Ahmad al-Dhaki of Mosul. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Rice, D. S. “Inlaid Brasses from the Workshop of Aḥmad Al-Dhakī Al-Mawṣilī.” Ars Orientalis, vol. 2, 1957, pp. 283–326. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: pls. 1-2, 4-5, 15a, 15d, 16f-g; p. 287, figs. 1-2; p. 288, fig. 3; p. 289, fig. 4a-b; p. 290, figs. 5a-b; p. 291, fig. 6; p. 292, fig. 10; p. 294, figs. 11-14; p. 296, figs. 15-18; p. 297, figs. 19-20; p. 300, figs. 25a-c url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4629040 The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 710 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n130 Milliken, William M. “Early Byzantine Silver.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 45, no. 3, 1958, pp. 35–94. page number: Reproduced: p. 88 url: www.jstor.org/stable/25142265 Shepherd, Dorothy G. “An Early Inlaid Brass Ewer from Mesopotamia.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 46, no. 1, 1959, pp. 2, 4–10. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 2, 4-10 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25142314 Vaughan, Malcolm. "Fine Mesopotamian Metalwork." The Connoisseur: an illustrated magazine for collectors, June 1959. page number: Mentioned url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 209 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n233 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 209 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n233 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 265 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n285 Shepherd, Dorothy G. “A Treasure from a Thirteenth-Century Spanish Tomb.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 65, no. 4, 1978, pp. 111–134. page number: Mentioned: pp. 123, 133 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25159577 Makariou, Sophie. L'orient de Saladin: l'art des Ayyoubides: exposition présentée à l'Institut du monde arabe, Paris, du 23 octobre 2001 au 10 mars 2002. [Paris]: Institut du monde arabe, 2001. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 113, p. 140 url: Kana'an, Ruba. "The Biography of a Thirteenth-century Brass Ewer from Mosul." In God Is Beautiful and Loves Beauty: The Object in Islamic Art and Culture, pp. 177-194. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press; Qatar: in association with the Qatar Foundation, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar, 2013. page number: Reproduced: p. 180, fig. 156 url: Blair, Sheila and Jonathan Bloom. God Is Beautiful and Loves Beauty: The Object in Islamic Art and Culture. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press; Qatar: in association with the Qatar Foundation, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar, 2013. page number: Reproduced: fig. 156; p. 180 url: Schick, Irvin Cemil. "The Content of Form: Islamic Calligraphy between Text and Representation." In Sign and Design: Script as Image in a Cross-Cultural Perspective (300-1600 CE) (Symposium). Brigitte Bedos-Rezak, and Jeffrey F. Hamburger, eds., 173-194. Washington, D.C: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2016. page number: Mentioned: p. 175 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.11/1956.11_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.11/1956.11_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.11/1956.11_full.tif