# Ahmad al-Dhaki al-Mawsili

Aḥmad ibn 'Umar al-Dhakī al-Mawṣilī was a 13th-century metalworker from Mosul, now in Iraq. He is known from three surviving works over a period of about 20 years from 1223 to 1242–43.$^{:286–7}$ He operated an atelier (workshop) with his ghulam Abu Bakr Umar ibn Hajji Jaldak (probably not a slave but more of an assistant).$^{:286,317}$ The epithet "al-Dhaki" means "the sagacious".$^{:311}$

## Life

D.S. Rice reconstructed al-Dhaki's career as follows.$^{:320}$ In the 1220s, al-Dhaki and Ibn Jaldak probably worked in a town under Artuqid control, possibly Amid, since a candlestick made by Ibn Jaldak has an incision marking ownership by "al-Malik al-Mas'ūd" - an epithet of Mawdūd ibn Maḥmūd, the last Artuqid emir of Amid.$^{:319–20}$ They were probably not active in Mosul itself, since that was the capital of Badr al-Din Lu'lu', an Artuqid rival.$^{:320}$ The Cleveland ewer, along with the two known works of Ibn Jaldak, are all characteristically Mesopotamian in style.$^{:320}$ After the fall of the Artuqids in 1232, al-Dhaki appears to have moved to Syria or Egypt, under Mamluk rule, in search of new royal patrons.$^{:320}$ The Louvre basin, made sometime before 1240, was still mostly Mesopotamian in style but with some subtle changes that suggest al-Dhaki was adapting his style to suit Syrian/Egyptian fashions.$^{:320}$ In the Homberg ewer of 1242, al-Dhaki was further adapting to Syrian trends.$^{:320}$
On the other hand, Julian Raby criticized some of Rice's assumptions and argued that, instead, al-Dhaki likely worked in Mosul and his workshop exported items for more distant princes. Raby also noted two symbols that appear on al-Dhaki's works: an octagon filled with complex geometric patterns, and a relief rosette. These also appear on other works by artisans associated with Mosul, leading Raby to claim that "Ahmad al-Dhaki's workshop was intimately connected to others in Mosul" and that "he was surely not in Amid/Diyarbakır in the 1220s, as Rice proposed".

## Works

* The Cleveland ewer, made of brass and dated to 620 AH (1223 CE) and now on display at the Cleveland Museum of Art in the United States.$^{:287}$ There are some later additions: the base, the lower part of the spout that attaches to the body, and "the lid and the uppermost ring of the neck".$^{:287}$ It has been heavily weathered over time and most of its original silver inlay has been lost.$^{:288}$ Two later owners, Ḥusayn ibn Qāsim and Ustā al-Muḥtasib (this name is less clear and the reading is uncertain), scratched their names into the ewer's neck.$^{:288}$ At the bottom of the neck is al-Dhaki's signature and below that is a series of 10 raised semicircular spaces forming a "collar"; the decoration on these is badly worn.$^{:288–9}$ The body of the ewer is decorated with a series of 30 medallions (10 each in three levels) on a background of arabesque patterns.$^{:292}$ The 10 medallions in the central row include several depictions of hunting (including one where the hunters are shooting birds with a blowgun, which is one of only a handful of known depictions of this activity in Islamic art), an agricultural scene, a scene of two people riding camels with an unclear interpretation, a scene of musicians playing, a couple of pastoral scenes (including a unique one depicting a shepherd playing a flute), and a very unusual scene depicting a young man reclining on a couch in a "festive outdoor occasion".$^{:293–8}$ The smaller medallions in the top and bottom rows all feature fairly typical "stock-in-trade motifs".$^{:301}$
* The Louvre basin, made for the Ayyubid sultan al-Adil II sometime between 1238 and 1240.$^{:301}$ There is an incision on the base which says the basin had belonged specifically to the vestry (ṭishtkhānah) of al-Adil.$^{:301}$ Another mark was left by a later owner, the Yemeni prince Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad, in 1775.$^{:301}$ The design on the inside of the bowl, especially at the bottom, is badly damaged by wear and tear.$^{:301}$ The inside is decorated with "lively" hunting scenes that convey a sense of depth through foreshortening (an early use of the technique) and making objects in the back smaller.$^{:301,4}$ The design at the bottom is a series of concentric circles with a group of strutting ducks in the middle (instead of the more common sun disk) surrounded by images of planets and the zodiac.$^{:301–2}$ There is also a band of writing in the naskh script which appears to contain lines from a poem but is too worn to be decipherable.$^{:302}$ The silver inlays on the outside are "almost perfectly preserved" and consist of interlinked swastikas divided into two main registers by three bands filled with arabesque patterns.$^{:302}$ Between them are a series of medallions depicting a variety of scenes - some common, others rare or unique.$^{:302,8}$ One depicts a team of acrobats, one male and one female; the male acrobat is only wearing a pair of short trousers while the female acrobat is completely naked, which is the only known depiction of nudity in medieval Islamic metalwork.$^{:308}$ D.S. Rice noted that the "somewhat risqué" nudity fits with contemporary Muslim historians' disapproving descriptions of al-Adil's "boisterous living and loose morals".$^{:308}$ Rice compared the Louvre basin favorably to the tray made anonymously for Badr al-Din Lu'lu and praised the "craftsmanship, originality of composition, and finesse of execution" of al-Dhaki's piece.$^{:307}$
* The Homberg ewer, dated to 640 AH (1242 CE) and formerly part of the Octave Homberg collection.$^{:311–2,320}$ It has been heavily modified from its original form.$^{:312}$ The original spout, which was probably straight, has been lost and replaced by an awkwardly curved one.$^{:312}$ The base and the "upper ring of the neck" are later additions, although taken from other pieces from around the same time period.$^{:312}$ Most importantly, its original inlays have been completely lost and replaced with new ones which are anachronistically chased.$^{:312}$ The shapes of the original designs can be hard to make out.$^{:313}$ The Homberg ewer's incorporation of Christian themes is more characteristic of Syrian artistic trends than Mesopotamian ones, and Ahmad was probably living in Egypt or Syria when he made it.$^{:320}$ He was likely adopting a brief trend in mid-13th century Islamic metalwork from Syria that used Christian iconography (although somewhat haphazardly and carefully chosen so as to not offend potential Muslim buyers).$^{:314,6}$