Mosque Tray Calligraphy

This I call the Mosque tray, brass, 30" dia. x 1.5" depth. I'd like to find out something about the modules containing what looks like Arabic calligraphy. I assume they are religious in nature but I have never dug into the subject and thought someone here might know about these snippets of Arabic (?) which show up in rugs and other "art objects" from Muslim countries. Where do you think the tray was made? I can't recall where I got it but I'm sure it was some antiques venue in the US. I'm sure it is 20th. C. The designs are engraved into the brass and since it hasn't darkened in the 30 or more years I've owned it, it must have been lacquered or coated somehow. The back is blank, too much trouble to take it down just for a pic of the blank back.

 

i dont read arabic unfortunately. but im almost certain that this is in fact the top of a table. i have seen these kind of tables with foldable stands made of wood, and they always have a large copper or brass tray for top, and the tray is always highly engraved i believe they are supposed to be for coffee, there are also very ornate brass and copper coffee pots and cups that goes with this style you see
maybe they made them like this to be easier to have on the go with camel caravans? or at least maybe thats the origin, and then it have just become the way these tables are but im certain, its the top part of a folding table

 

Yep - I've seen these before too. This would have had a wooden base that folded up. It may have been lost, broken, or whatever. The last one I saw was owned by a Syrian immigrant, but I think they come from all over.

 

Agree, we had one of the fold-up tripods long ago but never set the trays up as tables, had no use for that kind of table.

 

I of course have lots of use for the coffee!

 

I would be surprised if it said anything other than the shahada. “There is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his messenger”

 

Thanks Laura, after reading your post I got an image if the shahada and couldn't connect it to the tray engraving. I looked for anything like the "w-like" things as a quick check and didn't see any. Maybe I'm not seeing something?

shahada image-top half of the panel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahada#/media/File:Arabic_Calligraphy_at_Wazir_Khan_Mosque2.jpg

 

It could be Indian, Moroccan, Tunisian or Turkish - or several other Middle Eastern countries. The "calligraphy" on the Turkish ones I've seen there is so stylised as to be unreadable, but it's usually Qu'ran verses. However, it can also be tughras. Doesn't look like the shahada to me, either.

Table top, yes.

 

This one does look to be very nicely done, with actual Arabic script, which could indicate any one of several languages, as mentioned. I've seen many that were not nearly so nice, either with no script or just "pretend" script.
It can be very hard to interpret such script, but it looks to me like an Arabic-speaker might well be able to interpret this, or at least point you to the correct language.

 

Have had pieces with similar script shown to a native speaker of Arabic and she said that the script is stylized archaic and religious in nature. She could pick out bits and pieces but could provide no coherent translation.

 

Thanks, showed one module to a Pakistani gas-station guy today who was sure it was Arabic but had trouble interpreting. Will soon show the tray itself to warehouse neighbors, also from Pakistan, and see if they can figure it out. I looked at some commonly-encountered Arabic calligraphy groupings on the web and picked out some figures I could remember like the forktail snake ready to eat three eggs, but didn't find a match on the tray. Here's a link to the prayer I was looking at, my male snake is at the 10:00 position.

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-150...biyah-prayer-talbiyah-is-a-common-prayer.html

 

I've got a feeling it's the Fraktur of Arabic. Looks nice, but even the people who read the language can't hack the script. I have German friends who have a hard time with it. My late father and an Austrian professor (also deceased) were the only people I knew who could still read it, and my great-grandmother was the last person my dad knew who could actually write it. I'd imagine the religious calligraphy is in that same ballpark.

 

"my male snake is at the 10:00 position."

why....u feelin frisky ..

 

Arabic script is particularly adaptable to artistic uses, and there is a long tradition of using the script to be both decorative and meaningful, in mosques for example. Hebrew is also adaptable to that sort of use. I can't read either, though.....
The tradition continues among modern artists, and there are a number of books and articles featuring modern interpreters of this art; many are quite beautiful. Some examples at http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...phy+art&qpvt=arabic+calligraphy+art&FORM=IGRE

 

hebrew lettering also....

 

I took it to my hair salon, Persian lady said not Farsi but go to next stylist, she speaks Arabic. As soon as the next stylist looked at it she said it contained excerpts from the Koran, and probably chapter 70 if I heard her correctly. She thought the tray was probably engraved in Iraq by the way the characters were done. I'll have to check that out, no idea how credible the stylist is, but she was absolutely sure of what she was telling me.

 

You have a hair salon ?

 

Place where I get my haircut, not mine in any ownership sense.

 

Here's the online Quran in Arabic, same site has English version, so all we have to do is match a part of this to the tray, note chapter and verse, and switch to the English version. I'm not sure my brain is wired correctly to match regular Arabic to the calligraphy. Anyone, please be my guest. I'll try of course but it's a long shot.

http://www.qurancentral.com/arabic-quran.asp

Since I can't drive more than a few minutes in any direction without passing a mosque here in the DC area, maybe I'll just drop into one with tray in hand and see if someone there can't tell me exactly what's engraved.