Origins

So we have two bowls from a single workshop. There was a craftsman who knew both Hebrew and Arabic. In the early 20th century, there were a handful of Jewish families in Aswan as well as in other upper-Egyptian towns such as Banī Suwayf, Minyā and Luxor. Working with precious metals is a craft in which Jews were well-represented in the region. Jews in Upper Egypt were a domestic minority; they spoke Arabic and shared many of the customs of their Muslim neighbours. A Jewish metalworker in Aswan would logically also cater beyond a Jewish clientele. He would be able to apply Arabic calligraphic decoration. I wonder if he might object to applying Islamic religious text, but I am guessing he might prefer to confine himself to secular inscriptions, or even to nonsensical lettering that just looks beautiful. In any case, the evidence suggests the bowls came from a Jewish metalworker’s workshop in Aswan or elsewhere in the immediate surroundings of Upper Egypt.

For the sake of argument, let’s suggest that the bowls originated in one of the urban centres further away, where the majority of Jews could be found. However, the overwhelming trend throughout the 19th and 20th century was for Jews to move towards Cairo and Alexandria, not out of it. It is unlikely that material items that have a Jewish origin would have travelled in the opposite direction.

This means we are looking at Upper Egyptian Judaica. That is rare, and indeed there are no other bowls like these. That is why it is such a challenge to find out what purpose they once served. Fortunately, they have already told us a bit of their own story, in their own words.