Appliqué Mamluk Emblem

Example of a Mamluk emblem now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Example of a Mamluk emblem now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1972; MMA acc. no. 1972.120.3.

This illustration shows an example of an Egyptian appliqué Mamluk emblem that dates to the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries. Such emblems were used to show a man’s rank within the bureaucracy of the Mamluk empire. The emblem is made out of a yellow woven cloth with appliquéd mid-blue and light blue, red and white woollen cloth. Each of the devices is outlined in a couched, cotton cord.

The complete emblem consists of a three-field shield with devices in the form of a red diamond on a red ground, a light blue chalice with two crescents (pens?) in dark blue and white on a yellow ground, and a single, white chalice on a dark blue ground. Exactly which function this emblem represents is unknown.

Source: BIERMAN, Irene B. (1998). 'Art and architecture in the medieval period,' in: Carl F. PETRY (ed.), The Cambridge History of Egypt, vol. 1, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 372-373.

Metropolitan Museum of Art online catalogue (retrieved 11 March 2016)

GVE

Last modified on Monday, 03 October 2016 18:21