NAVINA HAIDAR: This animal may not look particularly fierce, but he's a lion. He’s more a guardian than a hunter. He’s made out of metal. His head comes off, so that a sweet-smelling material, called incense, could be put inside his body, with burning charcoal. Look at the surface of the body and his neck: they’re covered with tiny holes. When the incense inside was burned, its nice smell and smoke floated out through these holes. Picture the smoke coming out of the eyes and the mouth. Now look at the band around the lion's neck. The larger forms you see there are all Arabic words. You can see more writing on other parts of the lion. The words tell us the name of the very important person this special incense burner was made for. His name was Amir Saif al-Din Muhammad al-Mawardi. The words also tell us the date it was made – and – the name of the artist! Including the artist’s name in such a bold way shows that at the time, artists were important people to be honored and remembered. Now, about one thousand years later, we do remember his name: it’s is Ja`far ibn Muhammad ibn `Ali.