Lot 996. An Ayyubid silver-inlaid brass domed cylindrical incense burner, Syria, second half 13th century; 7 ½ in. (19.1 cm.) high. Estimate USD 150,000 - USD 200,000. Price realised USD 432,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2018. 

On tripod hoof feet, the body with a band of nimbate saints in an arcade, the cover with continuous knot roundels and panels, baluster knop, plain quatrefoil for fixing of original handle.

Provenance: Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, New York.
Acquired from the estate of the above December 1960.

Literature: R. Ellsworth et al., The David and Peggy Rockefeller Collection: Arts of Asia and Neighboring Cultures, New York, 1993, vol III, pp. 391-2.

Note: In the medieval Islamic period the technique of inlaying silver into a copper alloy body was frst fully developed in the Iraqi city of Mosul. After its appearance in the frst half of the thirteenth century the city’s workshops quickly developed an impressive level of technical and aesthetic refnement so that the Andalusian geographer Ibn Sa’id in AH 648/1250 AD wrote “Mosul hosts an abundance of crafts, prime among them inlaid brass vessels, which are carried from there to numerous royal courts” (quoted in James W Allan, Islamic Metalwork, the Nuhad Es-Said Collection, London, 1982, p.18). The technique was soon adopted across the Islamic Near East, with Damascus in Syria becoming a renowned centre in the later 13th and 14th centuries.

The Rockefeller incense burner belongs to a very rare subgroup of silver inlaid brass objects that combine Islamic metalwork traditions and Christian imagery. Only twenty such items from the Ayyubid period are known today, most outstanding of which are the Freer Canteen and the d’Arenberg basin, each now in the collection of the Freer Gallery, Washington D.C. (inv. nos. F.1941.10 and F.1955.10). Among this surviving group are six incense burners. Apart from the present example only one other retains its original domed cover, an example decorated with an ogival arcade in the British Museum (inv.no.1878,1230.679). The other four, lacking original covers, are all in Western museum collections.

 Canteen, Ayyubid period, mid-13th century. Brass, silver inlay. H x W (overall): 45.2 x 36.7 cm. Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment (F1941.10). © 2017 Smithsonian Institution

This large, impressive canteen, the only known example of its kind from the Islamic world, recalls the shape of ceramic pilgrim flasks. Its inlaid silver decoration combines calligraphy and decorative motifs, such as intricate geometric designs, and lively animal scrolls, with Christian imagery. These include a representation of the Virgin and Child in the center, surrounded by narrative scenes from the life of Christ as well as saints and knights. It has been suggested that the canteen may have been commissioned by a wealthy Christian, perhaps, as a special memento of his travels.

Basin, Ayyubid period, Reign of Sultan Najmal-Din Ayyub, 1247-1249. Brass, inlaid with silver. H x W x D: 22.5 x 50 x 50 cm. Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment (F1955.10) © 2017 Smithsonian Institution

Inscriptions on the interior and exterior of this extraordinary basin suggest that it was created during the reign of Sultan al-Malik al-Salih Najmuddin Ayyub, the last Ayyubid ruler, who reigned during the 1230s and 1240s. The work is particularly notable for its elaborate decoration which includes both Islamic and Christian themes. On the exterior, a wide inscription band depicts scenes from the life of Christ: the Annunciation, the Virgin and Child enthroned, the Raising of Lazarus, the Entry into Jerusalem, and perhaps the Last Supper. Some of the other motifs on the exterior consists of a lively polo game and a band of real and imaginary animals, punctuated by medallions with musicians. On the interior, a row of thirty-nine saints stands under ogival arches. Whether commissioned by a Muslim or Christian patron, the combination implies religious tolerance in thirteenth-century Ayyubid Syria.

Incense burner, Ayyubid dynasty, circa 1250-1300. Brass, inlaid with gold and silver. 20 x 12.5 x 12.5 cm. Bequeathed by John Henderson (1878,1230.679) © The Trustees of the British Museum.

The proximity of Ayyubid Syria to the Latin Crusader states explains this incense burner’s iconography. Early scholarship maintained that this unusual Christian iconography in metalwork should be seen as an extension of Syriac manuscript painting. More recent scholars have looked at the relationship between the crusader kingdoms and the Muslim polities surrounding them. This was a complex relationship, with considerable amounts of trade and artistic interaction as the crusaders transformed from external threats to semi-integrated internal political forces (Ranee A Katzenstein and Glenn D. Lowry, ‘Christian Themes in Thirteenth Century Islamic Metalwork’, Muqarnas vol.1, Leiden, 1983, p.62). A century later than the production of this incense burner the link is openly displayed. Muslim craftsmen in Damascus produced silver-inlaid brass vessels for St. Louis IX of France, Princess Elisabeth von Habsburg-Kärnten and at least three for King Hugues IV de Lusignan, ruler of Cyprus and nominally of Jerusalem.

The Ayyubid lands in the second half of the thirteenth century were a region of diverse cultural and aesthetic infuences, refecting in part the various dominions that had occupied the area, including the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, before being conquered and thus united by the Ayyubids. The great Persian poet Nizami, musing on this abundant artistic interaction, wrote, “I took up materials from every book; I bound on them the ornament of verse; More than new Histories; Jewish, Christian and Pahlavi. I chose from every book its charm, took out from every husk its grain” (Katzenstein and Lowry, op.cit., p.62).

It is ftting then that this exceptional incense burner, the product of a mediaeval multicultural society, should fnd its way to the desk of David Rockefeller at One Chase Manhattan Plaza, at the heart of the world’s most cosmopolitan city.

Christie's. The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller: Travel and Americana, New York, 10 May 2018 - SALE 16723