An Ayyubid tinned-bronze magic bowl or 'poison cup' Egypt or Syria, 13th/ 14th CenturyAn Ayyubid tinned-bronze magic bowl or 'poison cup' Egypt or Syria, 13th/ 14th Centuryof shallow rounded form engraved to the interior with talismanic diagrams and inscriptions, stars and images of a dog, scorpion, snake and two-headed dragon, the exterior with a band of inscriptions to the rim, traces of possibly silver inlay 12 cm. diam.Inscriptions: the outer band contains the names of various ailments that would be cured if drunk from this bowl as well as al-khazanah al-sharifah, 'The noble Treasury', and 'Muzaffar (?) al-Dunya wa al-Din',, to the inner bowl quotes from the Qur'an, talismanic, magic texts and numbers.The present lot is typical of the group of talismanic bowls known as 'poison cups'. Poison cups are never dated and are all attributed to Syria or Egypt. They are characterised by representations of a scorpion, serpent, a dog-like animal and two intertwined dragons along with magical symbols, squares and words. For further reading see Francis Maddison and Emilie Savage-Smith, Science, Tools & Magic, London, 1997, pp. 73-74. For a very similar example sold in these rooms, see Bonhams, Islamic & Indian Art, 4 October 2011, lot 137. Another similar brass bowl was sold at Sotheby's, Arts of the Islamic World, 1 April 2009, lot 60.