Rare Antique Nautical Folding Teak Table with Cup Holders

A rare ship's binnacle brass compass in working order housed in a teak and brass case. It includes the kerosene side light to illuminate the compass at night. By Kelvin and Hughes,...

A bronze ship's porthole converted to a side table by Deborah Lockhart Phillips. It has been designed to come apart leaving the porthole free of the legs and base. The rivets have be...

This exceptionally beautiful and rare silver-inlaid brass tray stand dates from the medieval period, when the Mamluks ruled Egypt and Syria (1250-1517). The Mamluks originated as slave-soldiers, who served the Muslim caliphs and Ottoman Empire. With time, the Mamluks became a powerful military caste, and they managed to take control and establish themselves as rulers of certain areas within the Abbasid caliphate. The Mamluk dynasty commissioned great works of art and architecture, particularly in Cairo, the capital city of Egypt, which was described in the 14th Century as ‘the centre of the universe and garden of the world’ (Ibn Khaldun, 1382). This tray stand is of biconical form, with a raised central band and flared base and rim. It is decorated with scrolling vines, overlaid with Thuluth inscriptions and roundels. On the lower body, the roundels contain floral motifs, and in the upper, stylised depictions of birds. The Thuluth inscriptions praise the patron, referring to him as ‘The High authority, the Lordly, the Possessor’, and ‘the learned’. The underside of the rim is engraved with a heraldic medallion, possibly the patron’s symbol. In the middle ages, when this piece was made, this item would have stood in a grand interior, supporting a tray full of fruit and fine food. The owner of this lavish piece which still bears traces of its original silver inlay would likely have been an Amir (prince) or some other important figure who was close to the Sultan in the Mamluk court. Mamluk tray...

Rare English Nautical Globe with Armillary Sphere (1930) 20th Century Good condition magnificent globe, with a leather-covered wooden interior terrest...