Barberini Vase
Dawud ibn Salama al-Mawsili · Second or third quarter of the thirteenth century (1237-1260)
A swelling brass body, a narrow foot and a tall flaring neck give this vase a silhouette of great elegance, and every centimetre of it was once covered with silver inlay. Bands of Arabic inscription in the rounded thuluth script alternate with friezes of figures and medallions filled with interlace, all engraved and picked out in silver against a darker ground. The principal inscription is a dedication: glory to our master the sultan al-Malik al-Nasir Salah al-Dunya wa al-Din. That is Yusuf, the Ayyubid ruler of Aleppo and later Damascus, who reigned in the middle of the thirteenth century. Look for the maker's own name too; the vase was signed by Dawud ibn Salama al-Mawsili, that is, of Mosul.
The vase belongs to the great tradition of inlaid metalwork associated with Mosul, in northern Iraq, whose craftsmen carried their skills to Syria and Egypt. It takes its name from the Barberini family of Rome, in whose collection it long remained, and was bought by the Louvre in eighteen ninety-nine. The dedication was read by the scholar Gaston Wiet in nineteen thirty-two. Stand back and see how the inlay still flashes in the light.
Did You Know? The vase names both its royal owner, an Ayyubid sultan of Aleppo, and its maker, a craftsman from Mosul.
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