The History of the Blazon in the Mamluk Period

Filiz Çakır Phillip

Synopsis:

A blazon is defined as a coat of arms or armorial bearings. Well-known blazons are often of European origins. It is lesser known that emblems and blazons were also used in the premodern Islamic world. The Artuqids, Anatolian Seljuks, Ayyubids, Rasulids, Nasrids, and Mamluks were some of the dynasties that used blazons as symbols of royalty and rank. Due to their complexity and uniqueness, this talk focuses on Mamluk blazons, including those that have epigraphic content, depict animals, and illustrate symbols of the various positions–e.g., cup-bearer, armor-carrier, and penbox-holder–of members of the Mamluk ruling military elite.

References:

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Balog, Paul. “New Considerations on Mamluk Heraldry,” American Numismatic Society Museum Notes 22 (1977): 183–211.

Çakır Phillip, Filiz. “Battle Axe.” In The Future of Tradition, the Tradition of Future: 100 Years After the Exhibition Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art in Munich, ed. Chris Dercon, Leon Krempe and Avinoam Shalem, 106–108. Munich and New York: Prestel, 2010.

Leaf, William and Sally Purcell. Heraldic Symbols: Islamic Insignia and Western Heraldry. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1986.

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Meinecke, Michael. “Zur mamlukischen Heraldik,” Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 38 (1972): 213–287.

Rabbat, Nasser. “Rank.” In Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, ed. Peri Bearman et al., consulted online on 24 November 2023.

Whelan, Estelle. “Representations of the Khassakiyah and the Origins of Mamluk Emblems.” In Content and Context of Visual Arts in the Islamic World: Papers in Memory of Richard Ettinghausen, ed. Priscilla Soucek, 219–253. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1988.

Citation:

Filiz Çakır Phillip, “The History of the Blazon in the Mamluk Period,” Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online, published 18 January 2024.

Filiz Çakır Phillip holds a Dr. Phil. from the Institute of Art History at Freie Universität Berlin and is an independent curator and scholar of Islamic Art History. She worked as curator at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto (2013-2022) and at the Museum for Islamic Art in Berlin (2006-2012). She has curated numerous exhibitions, most recently: Lustre and Luxe from Islamic Spain: Liquid Frontiers and Entangled Worlds (2023) and Hidden Stories: Books Along the Silk Roads (2021–2023) with Prof. Suzanne Conklin Akbari. She has authored several books, including Syrian Living: Medieval to Modern (2022) with Dr. Anke Scharrahs. Çakır Phillip also serves as a member of the Professional Development Committee of the Renaissance Society of America and as a board member of the Association of Art Museum Curators & AAMC Foundation in New York.