Arab and Turkish metalwork in the British Museum

A substantial stone building of the post-Meroitic period (c.AD 350-550) on the island of Ishashi.

Project leader: Rachel Ward, Susan La Niece

Department: Conservation and Scientific Research

Project start:
End date: tbc

External partners:
Rachel Ward, former curator, British Museum

Description:

Catalogue raisonne of 168 objects of Arab and Turkish manufacture in the collection of the British Museum, dating between the seventh and eighteenth centuries. The objects are mostly domestic vessels and utensils.  (Arms and armour, scientific instruments and jewellery are excluded.) A substantial stone building of the post-Meroitic period (c.AD 350-550) on the island of Ishashi.

Almost all of the objects are brass, finely decorated with engraving and precious metal inlays.

Each entry will include a detailed description of the object, its decoration and inscriptions with a full analysis of the materials and techniques used in its manufacture, and photographs.

There will also be a full discussion of each object within its historical and cultural context.

An important aspect of the catalogue will be the scientific study of the objects and element analysis of the metals, with the interpretation of the techniques used in their manufacture.

Publications:

R. Ward, Islamic Metalwork. BM press, London, 1993

R. Ward. ‘Veneto-Saracenic metalwork’. with S. La Niece, D.R. Hook, R. White In Trade and discovery BM OP 109, London, 1995. 235-258

P. Craddock, S. La Niece, D. Hook, , Brass in the Medieval Islamic World, in 2000 Years of Zinc and Brass (ed) P. Craddock, BM OP 50: London, 1990 (revised 2nd edition 1998) 73-113

S. La Niece, 2003, Medieval Islamic Metal Technology., in  Scientific Research in the Field of Asian Art: Proceedings of the First Forbes Symposium at the Freer Gallery of Art (eds) P. Jett et al, Archetype, London, 2003, 90-96

S. La Niece, ‘Maitre Mahmud et le travail d'incrustation de metal: une perspective scientifique’, exhibition catalogue, Venise et l’Orient 828 - 1797, Gallimard, Paris, 2006, 226-229

S. La Niece 2010. ‘Islamic copper-based metalwork from the Eastern Mediterranean: Technical investigation and Conservation issues. In Rozeik, Roy and Saunders(eds) Conservation and the Eastern Mediterranean.  IIC, London.

Images (from top):

  • Inlaid brass Mamluk bowl
  • Detail of silver inlay on Mamluk bowl