English: Laver

1470-1500;
Netherlands;
Brass

This laver demonstrates the far reaching nature of merchant trade links in the 15th century. It is a domestic object for washing hands made in Northern Europe, the heart of base metal production in this period. Yet the history of this object and its Arabic inscription suggests that it was used in Syria. The Venetians are known to have traded in copper from Northern Europe with the Mamluk Empire, which included Syria, in the reign of Sultan Qa'itbay (1468-1496). It is possible that they also traded in finished brass vessels in the later 15th or 16th century. This laver may have been part of such a trade.