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Fatimid or Persian Infantryman on a Lustreware Plate, 12th Century
A larger image of this Fatimid or Persian Infantryman with 'januwiya' shield on a Lustreware Plate, 12th Century. Keir Collection 151.
Plate
DATE: 12th century
MATERIAL AND TECHNIQUE: Fritware, painted in luster on an opaque white glaze
CLASSIFICATION: Ceramics
DIMENSIONS: 2 3/4 × 14 × 14 in. (6.99 × 35.56 × 35.56 cm)
DEPARTMENT: The Keir Collection of Islamic Art
CREDIT LINE: The Keir Collection of Islamic Art on loan to the Dallas Museum of Art
OBJECT NUMBER: K.1.2014.321
General Description: Keir catalogue number No. 151
Source: Dallas Museum of Art
Referenced on p.24 EH - 001 - D.Nicolle - Essential Histories. The Crusades. by David Nicolle
Infantryman with tall shield on a lustreware ceramic plate, Iran or Egypt 12th century. The foot soldier on this magnificent ceramic has a straight sword with the kind of hilt which appears in several Islamic manuscripts from this period. The hilt was probably of cast bronze. His tall shield with its flattened base and chequerboard pattern is a januwiya a form of infantry mantlet whose name suggests that it was of Italian origin. Genoa, from which the name derives, became one of the main Italian merchant republics through which military equipment and strategic materials were illegally sold to the Islamic states during the Crusader period. (De Unger Collection, London)
Referenced on p.29, God's Warriors, Knights Templar, Saracens and the Battle for Jerusalem by Helen Nicholson & David Nicolle:
A late 12th- to early 13th-century lustre plate from Persia showing a soldier carrying a tall shield, the base of which is flattened. Such januwiyah, or mantlets, were specifically for infantry use. The man's turban and the hilt of his straight sword represent styles known in the Islamic Middle East long before the coming of the Saljuq Turks. (Keir College, London, inv. 151)
