The school of metalwork in Mosul is believed to have been founded in the early 13th century under Zengid patronage. During this time, the Zengid region was operating as a vassal under the Ayyubid Sultanate. Control over Mosul as a city central to trade between China, the Mediterranean, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia was contested between the Zengids and the Ayyubid sultan, Saladin, throughout the early acquisitions of the Ayyubid Sultanate in Syria and Iraq after the decline of Fatimid rule. However, the Zengids remained in Mosul and were allowed some degree of authority under the Sultanate. 
Around 1256, the Mongol occupation of Iraq began, and the region became a part of the Ilkhanate. Of the artifacts agreed to be "nabish al-Mawsili" (of Mosul), approximately 80% were produced after the commencement of Mongol rule in Mosul.  However, it is unclear as to whether or not all of these artifacts were produced within Mosul and later exported as esteemed gifts, or created elsewhere by Mosulian artisans who relocated but maintained the "al-Mawsili" signature.