Sayf ad-Din Qawsun ibn Abdullah an-Nasiri as-Saqi, commonly known as Qawsun was a prominent Mamluk emir during the reigns of sultans an-Nasir Muhammad, al-Mansur Abu Bakr and al-Ashraf Kujuk.
Enamelled glass mosque lamp of Amir Qawsun, probably intended for one of his two architectural commissions in Cairo —the mosque or a tomb-hospice complex. Metropolitan Museum of Art
The monumental entrance portal of the Palace of Qawsun, built in the 1330s near Cairo's Citadel, and semi-ruined today.
The remains of the mausoleum complex of Qawsun in the Southern Cemetery of Cairo. One of the mausoleum chambers is seen in the foreground on the right, while the still-intact minaret is visible on the left. (Photo from 1867)
Double-page from the Qur'an manuscript endowed by Qawsun upon mosque in his mausoleum complex. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art
The Mamluk Sultanate, also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz from the mid-13th to early 16th centuries. It was ruled by a military caste of mamluks headed by a sultan. The sultanate was established with the overthrow of the Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt in 1250 and was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1517. Mamluk history is generally divided into the Turkic or Bahri period (1250–1382) and the Circassian or Burji period (1382–1517), called after the predominant ethnicity or corps of the ruling Mamluks during these respective eras.
Extent of the Mamluk Sultanate under Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad
Frontispiece of Sulwan al-Muta’ fi ‘Udwan al-Atba’ by Ibn Zafar al-Siqilli, Mamluk Egypt or Syria, circa 1330.
Horsemen with lances. Nihāyat al-su’l (horsemanship manual) by Aḥmad al-Miṣrī ("the Egyptian"), dated 1371, Mamluk Egypt or Syria.
Enthroned ruler and attendants in the Baptistère de Saint Louis (1320–1340). This is a probable depiction of Sultan Baybars.
