An Umayyad bronze buck, signed by Abdallah ibn Thabit, made for Ubaydallah ibn Jabir, probably Iraq, 8th century

Ex-collection John I’Anson Bromwich (1915-90)

Acquired by Christopher Martin Ltd., London, 1980s

Art market, London, 22 February 1986-92

Private collection, London, 1992-2024, from whom acquired by the present owner.

John I’Anson Bromwich was a fenland archaeologist and historian, a collector of coins, and fellow of St Johns (1949) and Wolfson College (1965), University of Cambridge. He held various university posts at Cambridge from 1949-78. His father was the famous mathematician Thomas John I’Anson Bromwich (1875-1929), descended from the 1st Baronet Sir Bryan I'Anson of Bassetsbury. Coins from John I'Anson Bromwich's collection can be found in The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

This statuesque bronze buck is indisputably one of the finest known animal sculptures from the Umayyad and early Abbasid period. Technically and artistically accomplished, it is one of only two known animal sculptures with a documentary inscription, and the simple fact of its Arabic inscription makes it an important art-historical document, recording the name of both its maker and patron.

As a striking work of art, it exudes great power and energy, demonstrating highly skilled craftsmanship alongside a superb state of preservation, indicating prized ownership throughout its 1200 year history.

The animal’s proud, alert presence belies its functional use as an aquamanile, with water input through the funnel on the hooped handle and exiting through the animal’s open mouth. Its cylindrical body gains movement by the sloping line that runs from the buck’s head to its deep rounded chest. This line shifts the visual weight slightly towards the rear, subtly emphasised by the angle of the animals well-articulated legs. It is as if he is tensing as he maintains his alertness or is preparing to run or stott. His long horns, straight when seen from the side, curved when seen from above, are an imposing feature that emphasise the fine features of his head.

The casting is substantial, but there is a crispness in the modelling of horns, ears and, particularly when seen from the front, nostrils. The artist has incised some details, such as the buck’s teeth and eyes, and added a lightly engraved decorative leaf on top of the animal’s head.

The aesthetic merits of the sculpture are matched by its documentary value. To date, just four inscribed animal statues from the eighth century have been recorded: a raptor in the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg dated 180 AH/796-97 AD, signed by Sulayman (inv. Nr IR-1567); a raptor formerly in the Church of San Frediano, Lucca; a raptor in St Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai, and a cockerel in the Monastery of the Great Lavra on Mount Athos, all discussed by A. Ballian in her article ‘Eagles, Cockerels and Other Birds: The Mount Sinai Aquamanile in Context’, in A. Contadini (ed.), The Pisa Griffin and the Mari-Cha Lion, Metalwork, Art and Technology in the Medieval Islamicate Mediterranean, Milan, 2018, pp.395-418. Of these examples, the Hermitage raptor’s inscription is, to this day, the only known example to provide information of where, when, and by whom it was made.  

The Kufic inscription across the chest of the present buck reads as follows:

Mimma ‘amala ‘Abdallah ibn Thabit

baraka li-sahibihi ‘Ubaydallah ibn Jabir

As the names mentioned in the present buck’s inscription remain unidentified, its content offers little guidance on dating and origin. There is more information to glean from stylistic analysis, although this remains challenging due to the scarcity of datable metalwork from the period, as well as chronological and regional variations. Dr Raby (2024) argues that the closest inscription to that on the buck is the Hermitage raptor’s, with a similar softness in its letter endings and a comparable method of engraving. Based on the taller alifs and the longer, curvier sublinear elements in the raptor’s inscription, he suggests that the inscription on the buck is earlier and therefore made before the end of the eighth century. The general style of the inscription is of an early, angular Kufic, before it reached its maturity in the ninth century. It is reminiscent of the mosaic inscription around the inside of the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, commissioned by the fifth Umayyad caliph 'Abd al-Malik in 691-2 AD.

Moreover, the presence of an Arabic inscription that is clearly not a graffito has an important bearing in art historical terms. It raises a central issue in the study of early Islamic art relative to what we know of the Umayyads’ production of art objects. The Umayyad dynasty is renowned for its architectural achievements, while their minor arts do not receive the same recognition, with few objects bearing documentary inscriptions. This scarcity of identifiable objects is puzzling, as lavishly decorated palaces suggest the existence of equally lavish decorative items, possibly overlooked due to a scholarly failure to recognise them. The problem stems partly from dynastic periodisation, which assumes stylistic shifts with changes in rule, ignoring continuities in craftsmanship and imagery. In Iran, many objects labelled as "Post-Sassanian" reflect this issue, evading proper attribution and obscuring the roles of their creators and patrons.

The present buck bears directly on this problem, as an obvious close relative of the well-known gazelle in the State Hermitage Museum, formerly in the Bobrinski Collection (inv. no.Ks 5765). For nearly six decades, this gazelle was dated as a Sassanian object until Trever and Lukonin (1987) suggested a later attribution to the seventh-eighth century. The Arabic inscription on our buck makes this later dating increasingly certain. The form, stance and size of the two animals are strikingly similar. So too are the loop handles, both with a conical mouth that once had a hinged lid. In both cases the handle appears to have been cast separately, though around the same date (as argued in Erdmann 1938). These two sculptures also relate to a gazelle offered at Christie’s, London, 6 October 2011, lot 20, which seemingly lost its loop handle but presents similar proportions to the other two, although slightly larger and of more elongated shape, despite being very worn. The overall similarities in modelling between these three examples suggest that they were produced under the same tradition of sculpting, and in all likelihood the same or a related workshop. The increasing stylisation of each sculpture might be due to slight changes over time: in terms of relative dating, Dr Raby suggests that the Hermitage gazelle may be the earliest, followed by the buck and lastly the Christie’s gazelle. As previously argued, the buck’s inscription pre-dates the end of the eighth century but is also too regular to be from the seventh century, which suggests that the Hermitage gazelle might itself date to the late seventh or early eighth century.

The animal wears a necklace that indicates it was meant to be a domesticated creature or one that lived in a paradeision game park. While such parks were a feature of Iranian aristocratic life, they were adopted with enthusiasm by the Umayyads, making an Umayyad date feasible. The tradition continued into the Abbasid period and a ninth-century Abbasid lustre dish depicts a buck with a necklace (Grube 1976, cat. no.24, illustrated in colour opp. p.72).

As for where these objects were made, Boris Marshak suggested that the city of Merv, a significant centre under the Sassanians and Umayyads, produced animal-shaped sculptures and presented them to the caliph as early as 740 AD (Paris 2006, p.79). Marshak identifies Merv as a key silversmithing centre up until the ninth century, though the Umayyads’ practice of relocating craftsmen means the tradition could have spread west. There is a current tendency to attribute similar works, such as the Hermitage raptor, to Iraq, with the Tbilisi ewer explicitly stating it was made in Basra, in southern Iraq.

The buck presented here is a major addition to our understanding of figurative sculpture in the second century of the Hijra, bridging several pieces of this art-historical repertoire together. It also happens to be a wondrous and sophisticated object in its own right.

This essay is based on an extended report by Dr Julian Raby, to whom we are extremely grateful. Results from a metallurgical report carried out by Dr Brian Gilmour on the bronze buck support an eighth century date of production. Please contact the department for further information.