Fragment of a Frieze with Winged Pinecones and Palmettes
Not on view
The decoration of this panel draws on local traditions. The wing pattern and the pomegranate between the palmettes on the right side were popular images in Sasanian art, while the vine leaves derive from Hellenistic motifs. The pinecone became popular in the Umayyad period and continued to play a role in early Islamic ornament.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Fragment of a Frieze with Winged Pinecones and Palmettes
Date:8th–9th century
Geography:Attributed to possibly Eastern Mediterranean
Medium:Wood; carved
Dimensions:H. 5 1/8 in. (13 cm) Diam. 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm) Wt. 11.7 oz. (331.7 g)
Classification:Wood
Credit Line:Purchase, V. Everit Macy Gift, 1930
Object Number:30.112.5
Fragment of a Carved Wood Frieze
This frieze is decorated with alternating palmettes, and winged pinecones. The motifs spring from stems bearing triangular leaves. At the right end, there is a circular motif resembling a stylized pomegranate flanked by two half palmettes; it may indicate the center of the frieze to which the carving once belonged.
The decoration reflects the influence of Sasanian art on early Islamic ornament. The Sasanians favored patterns created by a repetition of motifs in frontal view and had a tendency to abandon the naturalism of Late Antique art and move toward the more stylized designs. The pinecone and pomegranate, characteristic motifs, are often seen in early Islamic stucco decoration (see MMA 32.150.10). Sasanian artists flanked these motifs with naturalistic leaves or more stylized versions that resemble wings. Pairs of wings, symbolic of the fertility goddess Anahita, were also used, alone or to frame animals.[1]
Pinecones—both winged and not—were incorporated into Early Islamic designs and are seen in the architectural decoration of the Umayyad period (661–750). In particular, the mosaics in the interior of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem include a cone-shaped motif with wings.[2] More akin to the decoration of this wood carving are some motifs found in the elaborate decoration of the palaces of Qasr al-Tuba and Mshatta.[3] Sasanian-inspired decoration, including pinecones and winged motifs, occurs in other types of woodwork; pinecones appear on a pair of doors in the Benaki Museum (cat. no. 160 in this volume), and on an inscribed wood carving in the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, pairs of wings surrounding an arrangement of fruit are featured prominently.[4]
Mina Moraitou in [Evans and Ratliff 2012]
Footnotes:
1. See Françoise Demange, ed. Les Perses sassanides: Fastes d’un empire oublié (224–642). Exh. Cat. Paris, 2006, cat. no. 10, fig. 2; Prudence O. Harper. The Royal Hunter: Art of the Sasanian Empire. Exh. cat. New York, 1978, pp. 106–7, 110.
2. For some examples, see Oleg Grabar. The Shape of the Holy: Early Islamic Jerusalem. Princeton, 1996, figs. 36, 38, 48.
3. For the former see The Umayyads: The Rise of Islamic Art. Exh. cat. Beirut, 2000, p. 111; for the latter Maurice S. Dimand. "Studies in Islamic Ornament." Ars Islamica 4 (1937), pp. 293–337, fig. 49.
4. Edmond Pauty. Catalogue généal du Musée Arabe du Caire: Les bois sculptés jusqu’à l’éopque arroubide. Cairo, 1931, p. 12, and Dimand 1937 (see note 3), fig. 6.
[ Art market, Near East, until 1930; sold to MMA through Maurice Dimand]
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition," March 14–July 8, 2012, no. 161A.
Dimand, Maurice S. "A Recent Gift of Near Eastern Art." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, o.s., vol. 26 (March 1931). pp. 10–11, ill. fig. 6 (b/w).
Evans, Helen C., and Brandie Ratliff, ed. Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012. no. 161A, p. 228, ill. (color).
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