Writing Box thumbnail 1
Writing Box thumbnail 2
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Islamic Middle East, Room 42, The Jameel Gallery

Writing Box

ca. 1250 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This writing or pen box held pens, inks of different colours, sand for blotting, and small rolls of paper. Such boxes were status symbols for the officials who owned them. Brass boxes inlaid with precious metals, like this one, were the most prestigious, though their shape imitated wooden boxes.

Objects made from base materials such as brass were often transformed by sophisticated inlaid surface ornament. For larger motifs, metalworkers chiselled out small areas of brass and filled them with thin sheets of silver, gold and copper. They added details by chasing the surface of the softer metals and created contrast with a black filler. The results were an unusually graphic form of decoration, often of great quality.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 3 parts.

  • Writing Box
  • Writing Box
  • Writing Box
Materials and techniques
Brass hammered and inlaid with silver and gold
Brief description
Pen box, brass with rounded ends, Syria, south-east Turkey or northern Iraq, about 1250.
Physical description
Oblong brass writing box inlaid with silver and gold; fitted with ink pot and pounce-pot. Damascened all over with knot design on lid with medallions with geometric motifs on either end. Lid features rosettes. Inside of lid dedcorated all over with y-shape motifs and inscriptions, same on inside base.
Dimensions
  • Length: 24.8cm
  • Width: 6.8cm
  • Height: 4.8cm
when closed
Marks and inscriptions
Inscription in Arabic on inside cover (Rest of translation missing.)
Translation
"By me flow life and death, by me blood..."
Gallery label
  • Jameel Gallery Writing Box with Rounded Ends Syria, south-east Turkey or northern Iraq About 1250 Writing boxes held pens, inks of different colours, sand for blotting, and small rolls of paper. They were status symbols for the officials who owned them. Brass boxes inlaid with precious metals were the most prestigious, though their shape imitated wooden boxes. Brass inlaid with silver, gold and a black composition Museum no. M.712-1910. Bequest of George Salting(Jameel Gallery)
  • Brass with silver and gold inlay Syria or Mesopotamia, late 15th c. Salting Bequest(pre 2002)
Credit line
Bequeathed by George Salting
Summary
This writing or pen box held pens, inks of different colours, sand for blotting, and small rolls of paper. Such boxes were status symbols for the officials who owned them. Brass boxes inlaid with precious metals, like this one, were the most prestigious, though their shape imitated wooden boxes.

Objects made from base materials such as brass were often transformed by sophisticated inlaid surface ornament. For larger motifs, metalworkers chiselled out small areas of brass and filled them with thin sheets of silver, gold and copper. They added details by chasing the surface of the softer metals and created contrast with a black filler. The results were an unusually graphic form of decoration, often of great quality.
Collection
Accession number
M.712-1910

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Record createdMay 29, 2002
Record URL
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