The Walters Art Museum

This unique glass vessel reflects religious, historical, and cultural connections between Islam and Christianity. The work dates from the Crusader period (1097-1291), when Islamic imagery, including inscriptions in Arabic, as here, was often combined with Christian themes. It includes compositions in which figures resembling saints alternate with two-storied, domed structures that may represent monastic communities. A smaller vessel in the Walters collection (Walters 47.18), perhaps made to pair with this beaker, depicts a figure riding a white donkey-possibly Christ entering Jerusalem.

These beakers commemorate the visit of a pilgrim to Jerusalem.

Credit Line: Acquired by Henry Walters, 1925

Accession Number: 47.17

Location within Museum: Centre Street: Third Floor: Islamic Art

Inscription: [Translation] Glory to our lord the Sultan, the royal, the diligent, the wise, the defender, the protector of frontiers, the fortified by God, the triumphant

Culture: Islamic

Dynasty: Mamluk Dynasty

Place of Origin: Syria

Dikran Kelekian, Paris and New York; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1925, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

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