Damascus: Basin Makers

Arabic: Qaṣṣāʿīn

Date: Twelfth to sixteenth centuries

These artisans made basins (sing. qaṣʿa), which can made out of wood or clay. These were used to serve food. The qaṣṣāʿīn had a neighbourhood inside Bāb Jabiyya, near Straight Street. This area was identified by Jean Sauvaget (d. 1950) as the current zuqāq al-Ḥuḍayriyya because of the presence of the madrasa Ḥayḍariyya. Information is drawn from the work of Ibn ʿAsakir (d. 1176), Ibn Shakir (d. 1363), al-Nuʿaymi (d. 1521), al-Hadi (d. 1503), and al-Almawi (d. 1573). See also: Carpenters; Potters.

Citation: Elisséeff, Nikita. “Corporations de Damas sous Nūr al-Dīn: Matériaux pour une topographie économique de Damas au XIIe siècle”, Arabica 3.1 (1956): p. 71.