The Arab metal-work is generally covered over with characteristic designs and distinctive styles. Equally characteristic is the finely engraved ornament on many small brass objects made by Arab craftsmen. This is exemplified in the small and beautifully engraved brass writing boxes which were once a feature among the educated scribes of Arab fame. One such case is to be seen in the British Museum, the work of Mahmud, son of Souker, of Bagdad, made in 1281. The style is said by experts to combine the art motives of Mesapotamia and Egypt, which in the thirteenth century very naturally met in Syria. Another distinctive style is noticeable in the art of the metal-workers of the Mameluke dynasty of Egypt; their arabesques showed more realistic foliage than the Arab decorations of an earlier date.
Antiquaries always turn quite naturally to Egypt, that land with such a great past, when seeking for inspiration from the great monuments which are masterpieces of art—in bronze and stone. These they find there it is true, but the more important pieces of metal-work of that early period are found in Assyria, from whence came ponderous gates of brass, covered with the remains of delicate tracery and inscriptions. Such works of ancient art are rightly given places of prominence in our museums; the private collector, however, is generally content with the lesser bronze antiquities of Egypt which he can collect. These include mirrors and many small articles for the toilet and some delightful domestic bronzes. Among them are charming little ewers with long projecting spouts and curiously wrought curved handles ornamented with masks and shells.
The curios which reach us from Cairo are mostly in strict accordance with Egyptian characteristics. The earlier examples are representative of the art of Northern Egypt as it was expressed by the metal-workers between the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries, throughout which there does not appear to have been any great divergence of style, although when objects known to have been made during the earlier part of that period, and others fashioned during the later, the progress and development, although it had been slow, is very noticeable. There are also some traces of outside influences. In Fig. 10 there is an early lamp of brass in the form of a bird, inlaid with copper, an example placed in the thirteenth century. Quite different is the late example (eighteenth century) given in Fig. 64, which is a coffee-pot with a bucket handle and another small handle at the back; the spout is roughly worked with corrugations and quatrefoils, on the five bosses being the marks adopted by the owner of the shop in Cairo where it was used.
Reference has already been made to the influence of Saracenic art upon metal-workers in places where the Saracens came in contact with the craftsmen. As indicative of this feature the fine large brass basin illustrated in Fig. 65 is shown. Some portions of the bowl have evidently been filled in with silver. There are other objects such as bowls, dishes, and ewers showing similar decorations, many of which may be seen along with this example in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The Saracens seem to have had some influence upon what are usually regarded as European articles; thus in a collection of old bronze mortars there are sometimes examples from countries in the South of Europe which show in their designs these characteristics. The mortar had, of course, a very general use, and was needed everywhere in days when so many compounds were prepared by hand labour.
FIG. 65.—SARACENIC DECORATED BRASS BASIN.
(In the Victoria and Albert Museum.)