Incense Burner

Each element of this monumental incense burner, a demonstration of the excellence achieved in metalwork under the Seljuqs, was cast individually and then attached with solder; the head remained removable so that incense could be inserted and lit, then waft from the figure, perfuming the air. This piece, and others like it, would have probably been used in domestic, secular settings, as their zoomorphic and aromatic attributes would have made them unsuitable in a religious context.[2]

The object exhibits an elaborate decorative program that combines openwork patterns and epigraphic bands. The neck, body, and upper part of the thighs are pierced with trefoils, creating a latticelike design. The scrolling vine motifs that mark the ears of the animal are mirrored in the upturning of the corners of the eyes, and the snout is incised with stylized whiskers. Epigraphic bands in foliated kufic script run along the base of the neck and the chest, giving the name of the patron, Saif al-Dunya wa’l-Din Muhammad al-Mawardi; of the artist, Ja‘far ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Ali; and the date, A.H. 577/1181–82 A.D. In addition, the words happiness, prosperity, and well-being appear on the three round bosses located on the chest and on the two sides of the lion’s front paws.

Zoomorphic vessels gained popularity in the medieval period, and lion-shaped incense burners were especially common in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, though this example is larger than most of them and belongs to a small group of related works.[3] The group shares common features, including openwork decoration on the body, stylized facial features, incised eyes and whiskers, and upturned tails. The related examples differ most dramatically in their scale, in the pattern of openwork, and in the modeling of the body. The Metropolitan’s example is the largest of this group and exhibits robust modeling and smooth joinery that together convey a sense of musculature. Another example, in the Cleveland Museum of Art, while much smaller in scale and lacking the copious inscriptions of the Metropolitan’s lion, has a similar robustness and comparable features, and its long curving tail provides a sense of how the Metropolitan’s burner may have looked when intact.[4]

Francesca Leoni in [Ekhtiar, Soucek, Canby, and Haidar 2011]

Footnotes:

2. Blair and Bloom, 2006–7, p. 197.

3. Other examples can be found at the Cleveland Museum of Art (no. 1948.308.a), in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (no. IR-1565), and in the David Collection, Copenhagen (no. 48/1981). A list of the examples is given in Baer 1983, p. 58 n. 114. To them a further example in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (no. 2007.1301.A,.B) should be added.

4. See no. 3 above.

Inscription: Inscription in Arabic in kufic script around neck and continued on chest:
امر به الامیر العادل العالم/ سیف الدنیا والدین بن محمد/ الماوردي
Transliteration of inscription: (around neck): Amara bihi al-Amir al-`Adil al-`Alim; (continued on breast): Saif al-Dunya wa al-Din Muhammad al-Mawardi;
Translation: Ordered by the Amir, the just, the wise Saif al-Dunya wa’l-Din ibn Muhammad al-Mawardi

(The family name Mawardi is written on the chest between the name of the metalworker and under the name of the Amir, so it is not clear to which one of them it applies. Although the word al-Mawardi means "the rosewater-seller," the size of the inscription corresponds to that of the amir and not that of the maker, which is considerably smaller)

Inscription in Arabic in kufic script on left and right bosses and boss on chest:
السعاد ةالاقبال السلامة
Transliteration: al-salama al-iqbal al-sa`ada
Happiness, prosperity, well-being

Signature in Arabic in kufic script at left on chest, and on right foot:
عمل جعفر بن محمد بن علي سنة سبع وسبعین وخمسمائة
Work of Ja‘far son of Muhammad son of ‘Ali in the year 577 AH [1181/82 CE]

Amir Saif al-Dunya wa’l-Din ibn Muhammad al-Mawardi, Iran (from 1182); [ Khalil Rabenou, New York, until 1951; sold to MMA]

Dimand, Maurice S. "A Saljuk Incense Burner." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin vol. X, no. 5 (1952). pp. 150–53, ill. pp. 151, 152 (b/w).

James, David, and Richard Ettinghausen. Arab Painting. 3, vol. 29. New Delhi: Marg Publications, 1977. p. 9, ill. (b/w).

Welch, Stuart Cary. The Islamic World. vol. 11. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987. pp. 39–41, ill. fig. 27 (color).

Ferrier, Ronald W., ed. The Arts of Persia. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989. pp. 171, 173, ill. pl. 5 (b/w).

de Montebello, Philippe, and Kathleen Howard, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. 6th ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992. p. 316, ill. fig. 11 (color).

Burn, Barbara, ed. Masterpieces of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York; Boston: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993. p. 78, ill. (color).

Ekhtiar, Maryam, Priscilla P. Soucek, Sheila R. Canby, and Navina Haidar, ed. Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011. no. 85, pp. 6, 129–31, ill. p. 130 (color).

Canby, Sheila R. "The Scented World : Incense Burners and Perfume Containers from Spain to Central Asia." Arts of Asia vol. 42 (2012). pp. 124–25, ill. fig. 11 (color).

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012. p. 129, ill. (color).

Kelly, Elizabeth. "A Study of Islamic Metalwork." In Zoomorphic Incense Burners of Medieval Khurasan. Oxford: BAR Publishing, 2024. pp. 35–36, 44–45, 62–65, 68–71, 75–76, 89, 95, 101, 104–6, 108, 134, 144–51, 218, 246–53, ill. figs.3.7N, 3.11C, 4.1D, 4.2B, 4.3Q, 4.7D, 4.8D, 5.3C, 5.3E, 5.7, 5.11B, 5.13B, 5.14D, 6.1C, 6.20A, 6.28C, 6.29A, 6.30D, 6.31D, 6.32D, 6.33, 8.18B, C.4.1, C.4.2A–C.4.2B, C.4.3A–C.4.3B, C4.4A–4.4C, C.4.5A–C.4.5D, C.4.6A–C.4.6D, C.4.7A–C.4.7B, C.4.8A–C.4.8E.

Blair, Sheila S., and Jonathan Bloom. By the Pen and What they Write. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2015. pp. 36–40, ill. pls. 31, 32.