Zahroun Amara

Zahroun Mulla Khidr Amara
Bornlate 19th century
Amarah, Iraq
Died1929 (1930)
Amarah, Iraq
NationalityIraqi
OccupationSilversmith / Jeweler
Known forsilver nielloware

Zahroun Mulla Khidr bin Badran bin Qarjar Al-Zahroun Amara (Arabic: زهرون الملا خضر بن بدران بن قارجار ال زهرون عمارة), known simply as Zahroun Amara (also spelled Zahrun, Zahron or Zahroon Amarah; Arabic: زهرون عمارة; Classical Mandaic: ࡆࡀࡄࡓࡅࡍ ࡀࡌࡀࡓࡀ), was an Iraqi niello silversmith and jeweler who was born in Amarah, Iraq in the late 19th century. Zahroun Amara was a member of the Mandaean community who were famed for their silverwork.[1]: 1 [2][3]

Zahroun Amara was known by many nobles and monarchs around the world and was the doyen and most renowned of the 'Amarah Silverworkers', with his signature on silverware prized by royalty.[4][2][1]: 1 [3] Individuals known to have owned his silver nielloware include Sultan Abdul Hamid II, Stanley Maude, Winston Churchill, the Bahraini royal family, Egyptian King Farouk, the Iraqi royal family (including kings Faisal I and Ghazi), and the British royal family, including the Prince of Wales who became Edward VIII.[2][5][6][7][3]

Zahroun Amara also copied Mandaic texts, including Pišra ḏ-Šambra ("A Phylactery for Rue"), for the Lebanese Christian priest and scholar Anastas al-Karmali.[8]

  1. ^ a b Drower, Ethel Stefana. The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran. Oxford At The Clarendon Press, 1937.
  2. ^ a b c Morgan, Major H. Sandford (17 October 1931). "Secrets in Silver - An Ancient Handicraft". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  3. ^ a b c "زهرون عمارة .. عمل "ارگيلة " من الفضة للسلطان عبدالحميد". algardenia.com. 20 February 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  4. ^ "Portrait of six Amaran silversmiths. Identified is Zahrun (third from left), the leader of the group". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  5. ^ "Portrait of the Amara Silversmith's leader, Zahrun". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  6. ^ "Advance of the Crusaders into Mesopotamia | Note: name misspelled as 'Zahroam of Amara'". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference MAU was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Drower, E. S. (1946). "A Phylactery for Rue (An Invocation of the Personified Herb)". Orientalia. 15. Gregorian Biblical Press: 324–346. ISSN 0030-5367. JSTOR 43073269.