Origin of engraved copper tray?

Tray or tabletop is 30.5 inches in dia, 3/4 in. deep, and thickness varies but averages 0.190 inches, making it very heavy (maybe 20 lbs.?) It was once tin plated but most has worn off.

Where was it made? Is any of the "vegetation" identifiable? Does the calligraphy, if that's what the designs inside the vegetables are, meaningful? No useful marks on the back. I got this at some antique market decades ago and have no other provenance on it.

 

I was going to say Moroccan . Tons of this stuff all over Britain, with or without the folding legs.

 

I'll tell you this much...it's not Arab !

 

If you are referring to the Star of David, believe it or not that is used in Islam as well as in Judaism, I didn't know that until Mr. Google told me.

 

Still don't think this one's Arab !

 

Moroccan tea table sounds about right...

 

Certainly looks North African to me - the Maghreb. That three ball thing is a tree of life symbol, from memory. So, it's "Arab" in the sense that it's made by peoples who are not from what some think of as "African" origins. Maghreb Arabs, in other words.

 

I'm going with the top of a Moroccan tea table as well. I've seen a few. Here's a page of them.

http://search.xfinity.com/?cat=imag...ams/hl=en&start=160&num=20&safe=on&q=moroccan copper tea table/108

 

Thanks, yes Moroccan does bring up similar items. I saw some similar under Turkish Anatolian and it seems like the radially-arranged botanical symbols similar to those on my tray plus the tin plating show up a good bit there too.

I don't know that deciding on one of those regions or another would make a difference to me. You wonder how accurately the sellers decide what to call their trays/tabletops also, I'd bet that unless they imported the item themselves, they just guess at the origin by websurfing. Blind leading blind?

 

If it helps, I did see very similar ones in Tunisia.

 

If I ever write an ad for it it might read "Copper tray from the infamous, violent Barbary Coast of Africa."

 

Sell it to the Marines, on the basis that it came from 'the coast of Tripoli'.

It did, more or less.

 

I have one like that. I bought it for a few bucks at a yard sale .. somebody here correctly identified it as a serving tray.I forget which country . Mine also has the star of David. If you can look up my old post from a year or so ago...i posted pics. I would post a new one but dont have the patience to reduce the file size

 

Thanks, good info, the fact that yours has some origin marks was worth the time to find your post.

https://www.antiquers.com/threads/is-this-thing-worth-anything.6065/

 

Glad to help.

 

Morrocan serving table...thats it.........glad I could help.

 

The marks you copied into the post are important, Google Translate thinks that's Turkish but did not successfully translate it.

For others, marks on Hozhed's copper tray/tabletop are:

"Maksut dur kurfa."

 

enjoy your coffee...???