Damascus: Copper Beaters

Date: Late fifteenth century

Arabic: naḥḥās

The author refers to the beating of metal (sheet) in order to make vessels. See also: Copper founder (sakkāb); Decorator of metal vessels (naqqāsh).

Citation: al-Badri, ʿAbd Allah b. Muhammad, Nuzhat al-anām fī maḥāsin al-shām (Cairo, 1922), p. 363.

See also: Elisséeff, Nikita, ‘Corporations de Damas sous Nūr al-Dīn: Matériaux pour une topographie économique de Damas au XII^e siècle’, Arabica 3.1 (1956): pp. 69-70.

Milwright, Marcus. “Metalworking in Damascus at the End of the Ottoman Period: An Analysis of the Qamus al-Sinaʿat al-Shamiyya”, in: Venetia Porter and Mariam Rosser-Owen, eds, Metalwork and Material Culture in the Islamic World: Art, Crafts and Text. Essays presented to James W. Allan (London: I B Tauris, 2012), p. 265.

Damascus: Copper Beaters

Date: c.1890-1906

Arabic: naḥḥās

The copper beater formed items by hammering sheet metal. These artisans possessed their own market (sūq) in Damascus. They produced casserole dishes, washing bowls, sieves, and frying pans. The craft employed many people in Damascus, bringing forth “acceptable” (muwāqif) profits See also: Decorator of metal vessels (naqqāsh); Maker of decorated artillery shell cases.

Citation: al-Qasimi, Muhammad Saʿid, Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi, and Khalil al-ʿAzm (al-Azem), Dictionnaire des métiers damascains, ed., Zafer al-Qasimi. (Le Monde d’Outre-Mer passé et présent, Deuxième série, Documents III, Paris and Le Haye: Mouton and Co., 1960), pp. 479-80 (chapter 410).

See also: Milwright, Marcus. “Metalworking in Damascus at the End of the Ottoman Period: An Analysis of the Qamus al-Sina‘at al-Shamiyya”, in: Venetia Porter and Mariam Rosser-Owen, eds, Metalwork and Material Culture in the Islamic World: Art, Crafts and Text. Essays presented to James W. Allan (London: I B Tauris, 2012), p. 267.

Damascus: Copper Beaters

Date: 1899

A report dating to 1899 records that beautiful inlaid brass plates and jugs were produced in the Syrian capital. See also: Copper Founder; Inlay Worker (naqqāsh); Silversmith; Blacksmith.

Citation: R. Oberhummer and H. Zimmerer quoted in Kalter, Johannes, “Urban Handicrafts”, in Kalter, Johannes, Margareta Pavaloi, and Maria Zerrnickel, eds. The Arts and Crafts of Syria: Collection Antoine Touma and Linden-Museum Stuttgart (London and New York: Thames and Hudson, 1992), p. 64.

Date: c. 1906

Henry Van Dyke (d. 1933) briefly describes the coppersmith’s sūq. His description seems to indicate both the beating of sheet metal and the practice of inlay. See also: Copper Founder; Maker of Inlaid Metalwork; Silversmith.

Citation: Van Dyke, Henry. Out of Doors in the Holy Land: Impressions of Travel in Body and Spirit, Outdoor Essays IV (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1908, reprinted 1920), p. 290.