Stem cup for an Arab Christian priest, Egypt or Syria (Mamluk)
late 13th-early 14th century,
brass with silver inlay, 17 cm (6 11/16)
© Victoria and Albert Museum, London
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~Mosque
and Church
(Continued)
Mosques and other Muslim foundations were not the only
religious buildings of the Middle East in the Islamic period.
Muslims regard Judaism and Christianity as "scriptural" religions
based on earlier versions of the divine revelation (the
Torah and the Bible), and the Islamic states protected
the followers of these religions. The Christians and Jews,
and in Iran the Zoroastrians, had their own places of worship,
and many works of art were made for people of these faiths.
As these patrons were culturally a part of the Islamic
world, the objects they commissioned often differed little
from those made for Muslims. Inscriptions in Arabic might
be most readily associated with Muslim patronage, but the
one on a medieval brass chalice, for example, tells us
it was made for a Christian priest.
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