Muhammad ibn al-Zain: Craftsman in Cups, Thrones and Window Grilles?

Abstract

Muhammad ibn al-Zain is known from two inlaid brass objects in the Louvre: a basin (the “Baptistere de St. Louis”, and a bowl (ex J.-J. Marquet de Vasselot). On these two objects his signatures are found adorning cups and thrones. The name Muhammad ibn al-Zain cAli (?) is also found on an iron grille in the khanqa/madrasa of Majd aI-Din Iscardi in Jerusalem. The article explores whether the two craftsmen could have been the same man, and whether a single craftsman could indeed have been a worker in inlaid brass and in iron.