This panel, probably from a wooden door, is deeply carved with two symmetrical horse heads in relief. Attention to detail is evident in the beaded bands and bridles amid arabesques. The piece was carved to different depths in order to produce a pleasing chiaroscuro effect, a technique mastered by Fatimid woodworkers. A companion piece, almost certainly from the same door, is in the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Panel with Horse Heads
Date:11th century
Geography:Made in Egypt
Medium:Wood (teak); carved
Dimensions:H. 13 3/4 in. (34.9 cm) W. 8 15/16 in. (22.7 cm) D. 11/16 in. (1.7 cm) Object with mount: L. 14 1/8 in. (35.9 cm) W. 9 1/8 in. (23.2 cm) D. 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm)
Classification:Wood
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1911
Accession Number:11.205.2
Panel
Although this piece bears no inscription or other intrinsic dating evidence, it can be attributed to the eleventh century on the basis of stylistic comparison to works from dated contexts. Wooden beams and panels discovered in secondary use in Mamluk buildings erected at the site of the Western Fatimid Palace in Cairo are very similar in style and design.[1] These wooden elements are believed to have been originally carved for that palace, which Caliph al-‘Aziz (r. 975–96) erected and Caliph al-Mustansir (r. 1036–94) renovated.[2]
The composition of this panel centers on a pair of addorsed horses’ heads. Arching into S-forms, their necks merge in the middle of the panel with a stylized vegetal design of stalks and leaves that intertwines with the surrounding vine scroll. The rounded and beveled edges of these elements recall woodwork in the Abbasid and Tulunid period "beveled-style," but are distinguished from it by the deep relief with which they are carved and by the distinct figure-ground relationship that results. Furthermore, a second level of shallow relief appears in details such as the eyes and nostrils of the horses, their bridles ornamented with pearl borders, and the serrated leaf elements, all of which are executed with delicately incised lines. The entire exuberant zoomorphic scroll is contained within a beveled rectangular frame.
The Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, has in its collection a panel of nearly identical design and dimensions that was almost certainly created for the same context.[3] The two panels may be elements of a door, similar to one also preserved in the same museum. That door consists of seven such rectangular plaques arranged both vertically and horizontally within a plain framework.[4] Alternatively, the horse-headed panels may have belonged to a piece of furniture, such as a chest, cupboard, or screen.
Ellen Kenney in [Ekhtiar, Soucek, Canby, and Haidar 2011]
Footnotes:
1. Pauty, Edmond. Les bois sculptés jusque’a l’époque ayyoubide. Catalogue général du Musée Arabe du Caire; Musée National de l’Art Arabe. Cairo, 1931, pp. 50–51; Anglade, Elise. Catalogue des boiseries de la section islamique, Musée du Louvre. Paris, 1988, pp. 45–82.
2. See also Meinecke-Berg, Viktoria. "Materialien zu fatimidischen Holzdekorationen in Kairo I: Holzdecken aus dem fatimidischen Westpalast in Kairo. "Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts: Abteilung Kairo 47 (1991), pp. 227–33, pls. 23–24; and Meinecke, Michael. "Materialien zu fatimidischen Holzdekorationen in Kairo II: Die Holzpaneele der Moschee des Ahmad Bay Kuhya." Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts: Abteilung Kairo 47 (1991), pp. 235–42, pls. 25–26..
3. O’Kane 2006, p. 88, no. 80; Lamm, Carl Johan. Cotton in Mediaeval Textiles of the Near East. Paris, 1937, pl. 1c; The Arts of Islam. Exhibition, Hayward Gallery, London. London, 1976, p. 285, no. 443.
4. Ettinghausen et al 2001, p. 200, pl. 313. See also Marilyn Jenkins in Ettinghausen 1972.
[ Lucy Olcott Perkins, Florence, until 1911; sold to MMA]
Paris. Institut du Monde Arabe. "Tresors Fatimides du Caire," April 28, 1998–August 30, 1998, no. 14.
New York. The Hagop Kevorkian Special Exhibitions Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Nature of Islamic Ornament, Part IV: Figural Representation," September 16, 1999–January 30, 2000, no catalogue.
Dimand, Maurice S. A Handbook of Mohammedan Decorative Arts. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1930. pp. 88–89, ill. fig. 39 (b/w).
Dimand, Maurice S. A Handbook of Muhammadan Art. 2nd rev. and enl. ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1944. p. 112, ill. fig. 63 (b/w).
Aanavi, Don. "Western Islamic Art." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin vol. 27, no. 3 (November 1968). pp. 197–203, ill. p. 198 (b/w).
Fehérvári, Géza, and Yasin Hamid Safadi. "A Descriptive Catalogue." In 1400 Years of Islamic Art. London: Khalili Gallery, 1981.
Welch, Stuart Cary. The Islamic World. vol. 11. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987. p. 26, ill. fig. 14 (color).
Alexander, David. Furusiyya: Catalogue. vol. 2. Riyadh,Saudi Arabia: King Abdulaziz Public Library, 1996. no. 176, p. 211, ill. p. 211 (color).
"Exposition Présentée à l'Institut du Monde Arabe du 28 Avril au 30 Aout 1998." In Trésors Fatimides du Caire. Paris: Institut du Monde Arabe, 1998. no. 14, p. 95, ill. (color).
Seipel, Wilfried. "Islamische Kunst zur Fatimidenzeit." In Schatze der Kalifen. Vienna: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 1999. no. 15, p. 83, ill. p. 83 (color).
Ettinghausen, Richard, Oleg Grabar, and Marilyn Jenkins-Madina. Islamic Art and Architecture 650–1250. 2nd ed. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2001. p. 201, ill. fig. 314 (color).
O'Kane, Bernard. The Treasures of Islamic Art in the Museums of Cairo. Cairo; New York: American University in Cairo Press, 2006. p. 88.
Carboni, Stefano. "The Arts of the Fatimid Period at the Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Ismaili (2008). p. 6, ill. fig. 6 (color).
Ekhtiar, Maryam, Priscilla P. Soucek, Sheila R. Canby, and Navina Haidar, ed. Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011. no. 112, pp. 136, 163, ill. p. 163 (color).
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