Ensigns like this one often served as finials for standards, which were carried like flags to identify army units on the battlefield and in military reviews before the sultan. This ensign bears a Koranic inscription and the name of a Syrian emir, Sayfī al-Dīn Tarabāy, who is recorded to have commissioned a mausoleum in Cairo in 1503–4.
This is probably one of the many ensigns that were taken as booty by the Ottomans when they defeated the Mamluks in 1517.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Standard Head
Date:ca. 1500–1511
Culture:Egyptian or Syrian
Medium:Steel, iron
Dimensions:L. 20 1/8 in. (51.2 cm); W. 4 5/8 in. (11.7 cm); Wt. 1 lb. 12 oz. (802 g)
Classification:Shafted Weapons
Credit Line:Bequest of George C. Stone, 1935
Accession Number:36.25.1961
Inscription: Inscribed within cartouches on one side: the "Throne Verse" from the Qur'an, the Ayat al-kursi (Sura 2, verse 255); on the other side: the name and title of the Mamluk amir al-Sayfi Tarabay.
George Cameron Stone, New York (said to have been acquired from Haim in Constantinople; until d. 1935; his bequest to MMA).
Washington. National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. "Renaissance of Islam: Art of the Mamluks," May 15–July 19, 1981, no. 43.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Renaissance of Islam: Art of the Mamluks," August 15–October 11, 1981, no. 43.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Renaissance of Islam: Art of the Mamluks," November 21, 1981–January 10, 1982, no. 43.
Cincinnati Art Museum. "Renaissance of Islam: Art of the Mamluks," February 11–April 4, 1982, no. 43.
Detroit. The Detroit Institute of Arts. "Renaissance of Islam: Art of the Mamluks," April 24–June 20, 1982, no. 43.
Phoenix. Phoenix Art Museum. "Renaissance of Islam: Art of the Mamluks," January 8–March 6, 1983, no. 43.
Hartford. Wadsworth Atheneum. "Renaissance of Islam: Art of the Mamluks," April 9–May 29, 1983, no. 43.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Bright Side of the Battle: Symbol and Ceremony in Islamic Arms and Armor," January 17 1985–January 11, 1987.
Musée du Louvre Abu Dhabi. "Furusiyya: The art of chivalry. East-West 12th-15th centuries," February 19, 2020–October 18, 2020.
Mayer, L. A. "Saracenic Arms and Armor." Ars Islamica (1943), p. 10, n. 90, fig. 12.
Mayer, L. A. Mamluk Costume: A Survey. Geneva: A. Kundig, 1952. p. 46, n. 9.
Atil, Esin. Renaissance of Islam: Art of the Mamluks. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981. p. 116, no. 43, ill.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Stuart Cary Welch. The Islamic World. Metropolitan Museum of Art series; 11. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987. p. 61, no. 44, ill.
Alexander, David, Stuart W. Pyhrr, and Will Kwiatkowski. Islamic Arms and Armor in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015. pp. 249–50, no. 104, ill.
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