"On a heavy incense burner made some 700 years ago, a laudatory
inscription in Arabic encircles the name of the sultan. From a distance,
the inlaid strokes of its naskhi script burst like golden sunrays. For a
small pen case of about the same age, only a close-up view reveals a
universe of intertwining inlaid designs where silver birds fly inside
golden spheres. So opulent are such pieces that it is hard to believe
the amount of precious metal in them is small. Mostly, they are made of a
common metal alloy that, in the 12th century CE, metalsmiths in the
Turco-Persian Seljuq world transformed into luxury ware. Today, it is as
iconic of Islamic art as lavishly illustrated manuscripts or tilework
tessellated with arabesques and geometry. ..."
The open grooves of this 12th-century bronze-cast vessel once held inlaid silver and copper.
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