Open vessels for washing, serving, astronomy, blessing, and power.
Cover flat and open vessels.
Object family
Basins, bowls, and trays range from everyday household vessels to luxury courtly commissions. They can serve washing, ablution, dining, offering, presentation, scent, or display. Because their broad surfaces invite decoration, they often carry inscriptions, zodiac imagery, medallions, rulers' titles, owner names, and complex geometric programs.
Making open forms
A basin may be raised from sheet, hammered over forms, cast, trimmed, rimmed, engraved, inlaid, and polished. The inside and outside may differ in decoration and wear. The rim is especially important because it is both a structural edge and a prime inscription zone.
Interpretive example
The Met Basin with Zodiac Signs and Royal Titles uses brass, silver inlay, and black compound to combine cosmological imagery with noble titles. It shows how medieval metalwork can connect courtly identity, astronomy/astrology, ritual washing, and technical surface planning in one object.
Featured Museum Examples
Basin with Zodiac Signs and Royal Titles
late 13th–early 14th century, attributed to Egypt or Syria
The Metropolitan Museum of Art