Incense Burner or Hand Warmer

Description Gilded metal objects were long believed to have been made by Muslim craftsmen working in Venice during the Renaissance. It now seems more likely that they were made in Islamic lands for export to Europe. Muslim artisans often decorated their export wares with the geometric patterns, medallions, and foliage scrolls (known as arabesque designs) typical of Islamic art. The name of Zayn al-Din appears on a number of such export wares. Zayn al-Din may have come from Iran, since his signature on the round incense burner or hand warmer begins with the Persian word naqsh, meaning "decorated [by]."

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
1/08/1960	Treatment	cleaned; coated
4/02/2005	Loan Consideration	examined for loan

Exhibitions

• Venice and The Islamic World, 827-1797 (Venise et l'Orient). Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris Cedex 05; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 2006-2007.

Provenance Dikran Kelekian, New York and Paris; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1922, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Signature] Zayn al-Din

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1922