The collection in the Musée Royal de Mariemont contains a bronze flabellum which is of great signif- icance to the study of Christian art in the Middle East dating from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (Pls 1, 3; Fig. 1) 2 . It was bought for the museum in Egypt in 1914 by Raoul Warocqué and initially classified as a Coptic work until it was discovered that its inscription is written in Syriac, and not in Coptic. In 1974/75 Jules Leroy published a short paper on the object at the request of the museum, but since then the flabellum has largely been ignored. Thilo Ulbert refers to the piece in his monograph on the so-called Resafa treasure, which comprises some other liturgical vessels with Syriac inscriptions, but although he includes a very good photograph, the flabellum is hardly discussed in the text 3 . The purpose of the present article is not only to draw attention to this little-studied object, but also to shed some light on its function, iconogra- phy, style, inscriptions and provenance in relation to its historical context. In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the relationship between Christian and Islamic art and architecture in the Middle East 4 . A group of eighteen objects commonly referred to as Ayyubid metalwork with Christian images are particularly suitable for a study on this subject 5 . They are generally assigned to Syria and North Mesopotamia and date from around the mid-thir- teenth century. These various different bronze (or brass) vessels, inlaid with silver, are decorated with Christian and Islamic themes side by side. The bronzes depict Gospel scenes, images of the Virgin and Child, and friezes of saints and clerics along- side traditional Islamic scenes such as the standard cycle of royal pastimes. The patrons or buyers of these pieces are mostly unknown, with two excep- tions: a tray in the Louvre (ca 1239-1249) and the so-called d’Arenberg basin (ca 1247-1249) in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Both were made for the same sultan, al-Malik al-Salih Najm al-Din (d. 1249) of the Ayyubid dynasty. The fact that the only known buyer or patron was a Muslim has led scholars to believe that these kinds of objects were not produced for a Christian clientele, but only for Muslims. They concluded that for Muslims who owned these objects, the Christian scenes depicted on them were a reminder of their author- ity over the Christians 6 . In a recent publication it is straightforwardly assumed that the local Christians had no role in the creation of these works 7 . In short, present scholarly opinion is that these objects, decorated with Christian religious themes, were 113 1 The authors would like to express their gratitude to Madame Marie-Cécile Bruwier, curator of the Musée Royal de Mariemont, and other staff members of the museum for their invaluable assistance, to Jan van Ginkel, Robert Hillenbrand and Dirk Kruisheer for their highly appreci- ated advices, to Demet Varli for photographing the flabel- lum, and to Maria Sherwood-Smith for her help in correct- ing the English in the article. 2 Inv. No. IIIG 76B 2. 3 Ulbert 1990, 33, Taf. 55b. During excavations in 1982 in the Church of the Holy Cross at Resafa (Sergiupolis), approximately 160 kilometres southeast of Aleppo, a silver chalice and paten dating from around 1200 were discov- ered, both bearing dedicatory inscriptions written in Syriac. They had probably been buried, together with other litur- gical vessels, in order to save them from the Mongols, who sacked the desert city in 1259/60. 4 Lucy-Anne Hunt has been a major contributor to this: Hunt 1998 and 2000a. See also: Cruikshank Dodd 2001, 117-123. At present Snelders, for his doctoral dissertation, is carrying out research on the relationship between Christian and Islamic art and architecture in Syria and Iraq in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The emphasis is on the direct contact between Syrian Christians and Muslims. His research therefore focuses on the production of art with Christian as well as Islamic features in a group of inlaid bronzes, a number of medieval churches decorated with stone carving in the area of Mosul, and some glass vessels. 5 Baer 1989. 6 Baer 1989, 48. Katzenstein/Lowry (1983, 65) have taken them to be an acknowledgement of Christianity’s peaceful role within Muslim society. 7 Evans/Wixom 1997, 424-425. The Thirteenth-Century Flabellum from Deir al-Surian in the Musée Royal de Mariemont (Morlanwelz, Belgium) Bas SNELDERS and Mat IMMERZEEL 1 With an Appendix on the Syriac inscriptions by Lucas Van Rompay ECA 1 (2004), p. 113-139