How was this made?
By Gracyn Benck '23
The predominant material used in this age was brass, which would be shaped by various methods including casting, hammering, turning, and spinning. The So-Called Crusader's Bowl was made with either bronze or brass. Many metal objects were commonly made by the technique of casting, which refers to the process of making a metal object by pouring molten metal into a refractory void with a mold, allowing the metal to solidify. It is most likely, though, that the Crusader’s Bowl was made by hammering. This is due to the thin metal that makes up the body of the bowl. Hammering is done by shaping a sheet of metal by repeated blows of a hammer (Atil et al, 1985).
The foot of the bowl was likely cast and given additional shaping from spinning. Spinning refers to shaping metal or vessels into round shapes by forcing the sheet or object against metal or wood while it rotates on a spinning lathe. This requires a large amount of force especially when applied to thick metal made by a cast (Atil et al, 1985).
The engraving, or ornament, is done using a decorative technique in which metal is removed by cutting into the surface of the bowl. This is done with tools such as gravers, burins, or scorpers (Atil et al, 1985). The bowl also has an “inscription” (pseudo-Arabic writing). Inscriptions are made on metal objects by drawing with a pointed instrument across the surface to produce lines. The tool used to produce the lines is often called a scriber (Atil et al, 1985).