Candlestick

The candlestick bears the signature of the craftsman Ali ibn Umar al-Sankari al-Mawsili. The dense ornamentation contains human figures in procession, the twelve signs of the zodiac and pairs of birds. An inscription mentions the titles of an unnamed ruler, possibly an Artukid of Mardin. The second owner of the candlestick was Mirzan Aqa, the Mongol governor of Baghdad, who sometime before 1374, attempted to erase the human figures before offering it to the sanctuary of the Prophet in Medina. From Northern Syria or Iraq, 1317/18 (AH 717) H 53 cm (ΓΕ 13038)