A DAMASCUS-WARE SILVER AND COPPER-INLAID BRASS FIGURAL DISH WITH ENTHRONED KING SOLOMON
Damascus, Syria, late 19th century

Of circular shape, with a slightly everted rim, the brass surface worked with extensive silver and copper inlay, the central roundel depicting the Biblical and Qur’anic King-Prophet Solomon (Suleiman) twice, enthroned and surrounded by courtiers, birds, animals, and demonic divs alike, an allusion to Solomon’s legendary dominion over the animal, human and spirit worlds, a theme celebrated in both Islamic and Jewish traditions, the scene enclosed within a geometric strapwork border, the rim with a frieze of alternating silver-inlaid figural and epigraphic cartouches, the inscriptions in Hebrew, interspersed with six-pointed stars and further foliate and animal motifs, all set against a scrolling ground, the reverse plain with a suspension loop for wall display.

27.5cm diameter

Damascus wares of this quality, with elaborate narrative figural and biblical scenes, are highly sought after by collectors of Islamic and Judaica metalwork, reflecting the cross-cultural artistic exchanges of the Jewish and Muslim communities living in the late Ottoman Provinces.