divination equipment
- Museum number
- 1888,0526.1
- Description
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Copper alloy geomantic instrument inlaid with gold and silver in four main pieces: front plate, back plate, frame, and suspensory device (kursi). Smaller parts include 20 circular dials and four semi-circular sliding arcs attached to the back of the front plate. The front plate is recessed into the frame in the manner of a picture frame. The back plate sits within the back of the frame and is held in place by two small pins. The front plate has several inscriptions and geomantic figures. The frame is inscribed with a poem and decorated with a stem and trefoil pattern on the front. The suspensory device is triangular and in the form of an elaborate vegetal pattern with an incised ring. The back plate is bordered by an inscription with a vegetal and arabesque background. The centre of the black plate has an intertwined band filled with a vegetal motif overlaid with a diamond shaped inscription.
- Production date
- 1241-1242 (AH 639)
- Dimensions
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Height: 26.80 centimetres
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Width: 33.60 centimetres
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Depth: 1.70 centimetres
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- Curator's comments
- Geomancy is a popular form of divination (seeking knowledge through supernatural means) practised across the Islamic world. In Arabic, it is known as 'ilm al-raml', literally ‘the science of the sand.’ In this ancient practice, the position of randomly thrown grains of sand answered specific questions put to the geomancer by the client. Enquiries often concerned matters of daily life, such as the health of a child, infidelity of a spouse or success of a business dealing. These principles were transferred to this unique instrument, whose spinning dials reveal clusters of dots which can be similarly interpreted.The inscriptions on the back of the instrument confer blessings, good fortune and prosperity on its owner.
The maker, Muhammad ibn Kutlukh al-Mawsili is from a family of prolific metalworkers originating in Mosul. He also made an incense burner now in the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar, MW.584.2009. The inscription on the incense burner states that it was made in Damascus.
The owner's name was previously read as Muhammad al-Muhtasib al-Bukhari but has been re-read as Muhammad al-Muhtasib al-Najjari (for the Mosul 'school' of metalwork see J. Raby 'The principle of Parsimony and the problem of the "Mosul school of Metalwork" in V.Porter and M. Rosser-Owen (eds.) Metalwork and Material Culture in the Islamic World (London I.B.Tauris, 2012, table I.I a)
- Location
- On display (G43/dc9)
- Exhibition history
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2016-2017 20 Oct-12 Feb, Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, Power & Protection Art and the Supernatural in the Islamic World
2001-2002 22 Oct-10 Mar, Paris, Institut du Monde Arabe, 'L'Orient de Saladin au temps des Ayyoubides'
- Condition
- Many dials are no longer in proper alignment due to later repairs.
- Acquisition date
- 1888
- Department
- Middle East
- Registration number
- 1888,0526.1