Magnificent Work Under the Timurids and their contemporaries, the arts in Iran and Central Asia persisted in their excellence and intelligence. From the shrine of Ahmed Yasavi in Turkestan, Iran, comes this uniquely designed cauldron of bronze. The basin consists of an almost hemispherical bowl on a slender foot. The top half of the exterior is decorated with two horizontal bands of cursive and angular inscriptions punctuated by bosses and pendant handles, write Blair and Bloom (1994). On the bottom half are pendant triangular cartouches of arabesque tracery.• This brass lamp is another impressive design from the shrine of Ahmad Yasavi in Turkestan. About 36-inches high, the lamp has three oil reservoirs. This lamp presents a deeply indented profile which offers a variety of flat, concave and convex surfaces of decoration, and it is inlaid with silver and gold. Write Blair and Bloom, "...bands with inscriptions set on a dense arabesque ground contrast with plain surfaces engraved with palmettos, knots, and cartouches."• During the Mamluk era (1250 - 1517), architecture was the pre-eminent art, and the Mamluks' patronage of architecture defined many other Islamic arts. Objects like lamps, glass, brass candlesticks, paper Qur'an manuscripts and wooden minbars were well designed, calligraphed and decorated. The two great periods of Mamluk art coincided with the reigns of al-Nasir Mohammed (1294-1340) and al-Ashraf Qaytbay (1468-1496). • Early examples of fine metalwork were produced during the Mamluk rule in Egypt and Syria. This is an image of a brass candlestick with a truncated conical base supporting a cylindrical neck and truncated conical socket. The profile is distinctly squat. Write Blair and Bloom, "The surface, once impeccably inlaid in silver and gold, is divided into horizontal bands. The largest has roundels containing arabesque friezes around a geometric interlace alternating with concave-ended cartouches containing knotted pseudo-Kufic inscriptions. Above and below are friezes of running animals. The neck is covered with latticework interrupted by five quatrefoils with figures holding tambourines, lutes, and cymbals. These figural compositions are executed with extremely fine detail."• This large basin known as the "Baptistere de Saint-Louis" (in the Louvre Museum) is an example of fine metalwork during the Mamluk era. (The name has nothing to do with Louis IX of France who died well before the basin was made.) Such basins were used for the ceremonial washing of hands and usually were made in sets with matching ewers, write Blair and Bloom. This basin differs from most other pieces of its era by virtue of the absence of epigraphic bands and by the total reliance on the detailed and superbly executed figural compositions that cover most of the interior and exterior surfaces. Note Blair and Bloom, "The four cartouches on the main band alternate with four roundels depicting mounted figures. Two wear hats and cloaks and spear a dragon or a bear, while the two in alternating roundels wear turbans, robes, and boots." • The interior of the basin has a similar arrangement, alternating roundels and panels between animal friezes. The panels show two hunting scenes and two battle scenes in which figures wear a third type of headgear. "The distinctive physiognomy and dress distinguish three types of figures; indigenous servants and hunters, Mamluk amirs, and Mongol enemies," write Blair and Bloom. "The base is covered with a fantastic fishpond inhabited by crabs, eels, tortoises, frogs, a lizard, wild duck, pelican, crocodile, and two harpies." • The superb craftsmanship, precision of detail and figural types make this basin the masterpiece of all Mamluk and perhaps of all Islamic metalwork.• During the second half of the 14th century, the production of high quality metalwork continued, despite the economic distress of the Mamluks. The Mamluks still commissioned artistic pieces, and Egyptian metalwork was so appreciated that foreign patrons sought pieces for export to East and West. About 21-inches tall, this beautiful ewer is one of a series of inlaid brasses made in Cairo. Blair and Bloom note that its overall shape, an inverted pear with cylindrical neck, straight narrow spout and curving handle, follows Ayyubid models, but the heavy mouth and bold rings are typical Mamluk innovations. • The traditional decoration of the Mamluks continued into the first half of the 15th century. Pincer-topped Thuluth script was a characteristic feature of metalwork made for Qaytbay. Although a few of the pieces inscribed with his name are only incised, a few of the finest are inlaid with gold and silver, showing that Egyptian craftsmen could still equal the quality of work produced more than a century earlier. This large lobed brass bowl inlaid with silver and gold is, write Blair and Bloom, perhaps the finest piece surviving from the Mamluk period. With the Ottoman Empire positioned as heir to the Byzantine Empire and as a major world power, Muslim artists found inspiration in an array of artistic traditions from Islamic and Mediterranean lands. By the mid-16th century, during the reign of Sultan Sulaiman the Magnificent (1520-1566), a classical Ottoman style had emerged. The style struck an extraordinary balance between the geometric order underlying much of Islamic art and a lyric naturalism visible in the common representation of plants and flowers. This distinctive visual vocabulary was applied to textiles, ceramics, and other media. By the end of the 17th century, the style had become increasingly codified and repetitious. When 18th-century Ottoman society was beset by increasing economic, military, and political problems, the people looked back to the reign of Sulaiman -- including its arts and architecture -- as a Golden Age. • Bloom and Blair (1994) write, "some of Sulaiman's more traditional Islamic regalia were preserved in the palace treasury, including this extraordinary sword inlaid with gold by Ahmed Tekelu in 1526-1527. The hilt is made of ivory, engraved with a blossom scroll inlaid with black mastic and overlaid with a golden network of floral scrolls and chinoiserie cloud-bands. The golden network on the panel is set with rubies and once had a large central gem, possibly a turquoise. Apart from the cutting edge itself, the damascened steel blade is lavishly decorated on both sides. The upper third was chased with scrolls and overlaid with representations of a dragon confronting either a simurgh or a phoenix. The creatures were cast separately and affixed to the surface which was parcel gilt and inlaid with rubies for the animals' eyes. The middle third of the sword displays a scroll supporting composite flowers or animal heads. The lower third displays beautiful Thuluth inscription with Sulyeman's name and titles. The spine of the blade is inscribed in Nasta'liq script with Persian verses and the signature of the craftsman, probably a Turkoman brought from Tabriz by Selim. This sword is one of the finest artistic pieces from the Ottoman court in the early part of Sulyeman's reign." • Inlaid with silver, this brass inkwell features musicians within arabesques. Done in the late Seljuq style, the inkwell probably was made by a Persian artist working in Syria or Iraq during the early 13th century.• Most early Arabic astronomers accepted the Ptolemaic system of geographical determination and worked to make this system more accurate, more efficient, and more elegant. The planispheric astrolabe was one of the most important instruments used by early astronomers. This brass instrument, a Planispheric Astrolabe, is signed by Badr, an assistant to Ibn al-Husain bin Ahmad, an astrolabist from Baghdad. Planispheric astrolabes were used for maritime navigation as well, and as such, were the prototypes for later Quadrants.This rather squat, multifaceted brass ewer is covered by silver inlay. In The Genius of Arab Civilization, Oleg Grabar writes that the decoration is artfully ordered in alternate rows of bands and medallions -- composed in such a way that neither system overwhelms the other and each is in perfect balance with the other.• The ewer is a product of a school of metalworkers that flourished in northern Iraq during the 13th century. An inscription on the ewer's neck states: "Engraved by Shuja' bin Man'ah al-Mawsili, in the blessed month of Rajab of the year 629 [May 1232] in Mosul." • Although its quality may be superior to many bronzes of the time, notes Grabar, the ewer is not unique in technique, subject of decoration or style. The technique of inlaying brass or bronze with silver did not originate in the Arab empire, Grabar notes. Earlier examples are found in China and the Near East. But in the mid-12th century, this technique became the most popular means of decorating metal objects. The revival is believed to have begun in northeastern Iran, then spreading throughout the Arab world.The "Blacas" ewer (named so because it was part of the collection of the Duke of Blacas) is rich in decoration. The main medallions contain typical scenes of 'the princely cycle' -- courtly audiences, hunting, feasting, dancing and music. These scenes are repeated on the smaller medallions. The neck includes depiction of the planets and signs of the zodiac. Two of the bands have inscriptions, "figural Kufi", expressing good wishes and blessings. On one band, the letters are almost transfigured by representations of animals and humans engaged in a wild array of activities.• Grabar writes that inlaid metalwork was on objects employed for daily use -- for writing, washing, drinking, providing light. Many of the objects were commissioned by the Muslim urban bourgeoisie. The scenes and symbols on the objects, writes Grabar, were used as metaphors of good wishes for the users of the objects.
Pakistan has thousands of years old and rich tradition of its arts and crafts. The activities of the National Crafts Council and promotional plans of organizations have contributed a lot in assisting the crafts-people accomplishments. The important names in these organizations are Export Promotion Bureau and Small Industries Corporations. Pakistani craftsmen are well reputed in producing quality products in clay, stone, fabrics, carpets, wood, metal, jewelry and leather. 
