Beschreibung:

A large Mamluk tinned-copper dish possibly made for Sultan Janbalat (reg. 1500-1501)
Egypt, 15th/ 16th Centuryof shallow circular form with lobed everted rim on a short foot, the interior engraved and decorated with a central blazon in a roundel encircled by a band of inscription, all surrounded by interlacing geometric and vegetal designs, the exterior with ownership marks
39 cm. diam.FootnotesInscriptions: to the centre, mimma 'umila bi-rasm al-janab al-'ali al-sayfi jan balat min tabaqah al-zamamiyyah (?), 'One of what was made for the high excellency al-Sayfi (Sayf al-Din) Jan Balat of the barracks of Zamamiyyah (?)'; to the exterior wall, bi-rasm al-sayyid al-sharif 'abd al-rahman, 'For the Noble Sayyid 'Abd al-Rahman'; ibn qadi al-qudat suraj al-din ibn hurayb (?), 'The son of the Judge of [all] judges Suraj al-Din son of Hurayb (?)'; mimma 'umila bi-rasm al-amir qa[di] al-qudat 'abd al-qadir ibn 'abd al-rahman, 'One of what was made for the Amir, the Judge of [all] judges, 'Abd al-Qadir son of 'Abd al-Rahman'; ibn al-sayyid al-sharif 'abd al-qadir, 'The son of the noble Sayyid, 'Abd al-Qadir'; a tughra, sahibuhu 'ayashah zawjat hajj ibrahim yusuf sarraf sanah 1162, 'Its owner 'Ayashah the wife of Hajj Ibrahim Yusuf, the money changer/paymaster (al-sarraf), the year 1162 (AD 1748-9)'; another tughra, al-faqir muhammad al-razzaz, 'The needy, Muhammad the rice-seller (al-razzaz)'; to the base, 'Muhammad Mustafa'.
Two Jan Balats, both with identical blasons to that on this dish, are listed in L.A. Mayer, Saracenic Heraldry, Oxford, 1933 and pieces bearing his blason are dated between AH 901-904/ AD 1495-1499 (pp. 127-30). A dish of comparable form is in the Nasser D. Khalili Collection (see M. Spink, Brasses, Bronze and Silver of the Islamic Lands, Part 3, London, 2022, pp. 892-893, cat. 579).