The Art And Architecture of Islamic Cairo

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also thrived after the Ottoman conquest and was later enriched by floral elements absorbed from Ottoman design. The carpets were much admired by the Ottoman Turks and in 1585 Murat III invited eleven weavers from Cairo to set up a workshop in Istanbul. In general, carpet weaving was one of the few success stories among the decorative arts during the late Mamluk period. TEXTILES Like the Cleveland mantle and Victoria and Albert Museum copes discussed earlier, most of the best-preserved examples of Egyptian textiles are those that entered the cathedrals of Europe and were used as vestments and relic adornments. Also in the European domain a number of Italian paintings depicting Mamluk textiles provide valuable information on their appearance as well as giving evidence that luxury textiles from Egypt were a valued commodity in the West. Textiles found in Egypt consist of more humble items and survive mainly in fragments. The overall picture of Egyptian textiles is like an incomplete jigsaw puzzle and unlike the other decorative arts, they are more difficult to categorise or trace chronologically. However, we can piece together from this evidence a reasonable picture of textile decoration, everyday dress, soft furnishings and household items. It is the graves and rubbish mounds of Fustat that have yielded most of these woven and embroidered fragments (as well as pieces of carpet which include the earliest surviving examples of imported Abbasid and Seljuk carpets). Coming mainly from these sources, one of the most comprehensive collections of embroidered textiles is the Newberry collection in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Much of this collection, created by Professor Percy Newberry and his wife Essie, has recently been published by Marianne Ellis. It consists mainly of embroidered fragments of tiraz, decorative bands, tunics, scarves, sashes, girdles, handkerchiefs, samplers, towels, tabs, wrappers and covers from the Tulunid, Fatimid, Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. Some notable items, such as a child’s tunic and a number of Mamluk caps, have survived completely intact. However, most are fragments and their function and size have been a matter of conjecture because dealers have sold only the embroidered parts and disposed of the main cotton and linen fabric that made up the bulk of the items. 42 Among the Ayyubid fragments there are two beautiful decorative bands and inscriptions embroidered on linen with silk thread. Typical of Ayyubid art, they The Decorative Arts of the Ayyubids and Mamluks 195
above: Child’s tunic: late fourteenth to early fifteenth century (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford). 196 The Art and Architecture of Islamic Cairo are intricate and concentrated in design. One shows a delicate interlacing medallion amid tightly wound scrolls set with interlaced patterns based on plaited Kufic. The lobed shape of the medallion and the interlacing arabesque is similar in composition and design to contemporary inlaid Ayyubid metalware. The other embroidered Ayyubid inscription is set in dense scrollwork and light, delicate embroidered filigree. It pos- sibly decorated a shawl and reads, ‘Love it is that keeps the eloquent man from speech’. 43 The sentiment expressed in the inscription is very different from the formal honorific titles found in embroidered tiraz. As for embroidered Mamluk inscriptions, they reveal expressions of good wishes similar to those that adorn pottery and metalware. A fragment in the Newberry collection states in bold unadorned red Thuluth script, ‘Glory and eternity to the owner’, and in the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Geneva, there is a beautiful embroidered Mamluk inscription that reads, ‘Happiness and eternal prosperity’. It is embroidered in Naskhi script set against an intricate arabesque of plaited motifs similar to those seen in the illustrated Ayyubid fragment. 44 In contrast to these fine scrolling arabesques, there are a number of items in the Newberry collection showing an interesting repertoire of angular geometric designs, including hexagons, lozenges, hooks, and S and Z motifs. They are a part of an international language of geometric design and appear in contemporary Seljuk carpets. Among early examples is an Ayyubid sampler. These provided a selection of patterns for prospective customers to choose from, and most intriguing in this example is the appearance of birds and fish in the otherwise iconoclastic art of the Ayyubids. Another Ayyubid sampler shows a selection of V-shaped patterns with pendants designed to border the neck slits of garments. Such patterns and formats endured well into the Mamluk era and an example can be seen on a wellpreserved child’s tunic in the Newberry collection. This is one of those rare specimens found intact showing the simple T-shape of
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THE ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF ISLAMIC
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THE ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF ISLAMIC
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Contents Map of Cairo vi Preface 1
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Preface When I first visited Egypt
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Art and Architecture of Islam, 650-
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exploitation and persecution under
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The ecumenical councils defined ort
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any further conquest of Egypt would
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negotiations took place between Cyr
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altogether, Amr subsequently played
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as ‘a people who love death bette
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point for urban development, but as
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He ordered them to place the stone
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Amr frequently preached the khutba
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After Salah al-Din, Sultan Baibars
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Its daily use in Amr’s time, serv
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AL-QATA’I With the fall of the Um
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throne in 870 he divided the empire
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in those days to recycle and use ex
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in an anti-clockwise direction up t
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on the north-west and south-east si
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plaster with cement or concrete. It
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organic and geometrical form. The r
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that of his wives in heroic size, a
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significant and legitimate minority
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knowledge of Egypt, both before and
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evidence here supports that view (t
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Bab al-Futuh, like Bal al-Nasr, is
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Although little remains of its orig
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oth al-Azhar and the palace were wi
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with fluted hoods. The whole façad
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Madrasa and tomb of Gawhar al-Qanaq
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vegetarian dish known as mulukhiyya
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monument, being restored by a numbe
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strong horizontal ribs at the botto
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formal religious gatherings found a
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out invocations, weeping and entrea
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Egypt and Sunni territory ruled by
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wooden fragments of this period in
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where it was developed in glass mak
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ecause this tiraz was woven in the
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sense of legitimacy in the wake of
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that of the delicate stucco mihrab
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craftsmen, although their origin is
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St Catherine’s monastery, Sinai,
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and to her left is a bottle-shaped
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oken by a spotted white underbelly
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and grotesques, and what distinguis
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decorated with palmettes, but the K
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lustre-painted bottle in the David
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from the second quarter of the elev
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shows a central palm tree dividing
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most illustrious lord al-Afdal, the
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Raynard of Chatillon’s attacks on
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0 0 100 200 100 200 Tomb of Sayyida
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the main Citadel, fortifications we
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Ibn Jubayr’s account is supported
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gone so far as to offer his sister
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largest. Its plan is divided into t
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height of 29 metres is almost that
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disciplined spirit of the age. The
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Mausoleum Madrasa Qibla iwan North-
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this new centre of government in th
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imprisonment in the Red Tower on th
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doors on the exterior are matched i
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literature, the sciences, art and a
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chase he was murdered, but accounts
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tough unyielding personality of its
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over the world. The intellectual cl
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left: The minaret and dome of the S
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patterns of the central window gril
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138 The Art and Architecture of Isl
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above: The sahn of the madrasa of S
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elow: The minaret of the madrasa of
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Page 155 and 156: ight: The khanqah- madrasa of Amir
Page 157 and 158: elow: The khanqah of Baibars al-Jas
Page 161 and 162: top: The mosque of al-Maridani. abo
Page 163 and 164: elow: Mosque of Sultan Hasan taken
Page 165 and 166: elow: Plan of the Sultan Hasan mosq
Page 169 and 170: above: The qibla iwan of the Sultan
Page 171 and 172: above: Mausoleum of Gur-i Amir, Sam
Page 173 and 174: CHAPTER SIX The Decorative Arts of
Page 175 and 176: above: Twelfth-century Persian frit
Page 177 and 178: above: Brass basin incised and inla
Page 179 and 180: top: Brass candlestick inlaid with
Page 181 and 182: above: Incense burner: 1268-79 (Bri
Page 183 and 184: elow: Brass basin inlaid with silve
Page 185 and 186: top: Mosque lamp: c. 1350-60. above
Page 187 and 188: top: Doors of the Sultan Hasan mosq
Page 189 and 190: above: Panel from the mausoleum of
Page 191 and 192: top: Stone minbar in the khanqah of
Page 193 and 194: above: Frontispiece of a Qur’an w
Page 199 and 200: above: ‘Hand-Washing Machine’ f
Page 201 and 202: above: Frontispiece to the Maqamat
Page 203: above: The Simonetti Carpet: late f
Page 207 and 208: CHAPTER SEVEN The Architecture of t
Page 211 and 212: above: View of the Eastern Cemetery
Page 213 and 214: above: The domes of the khanqah of
Page 215 and 216: above: One of the mausoleum chamber
Page 221 and 222: above: Khanqah-madrasa complex of B
Page 223 and 224: top: Plan of funerary complex of Su
Page 225 and 226: elow: Plan of funerary complex of A
Page 227 and 228: elow: Plan of funerary complex of Q
Page 230 and 231: masonry and bands of joggled lintel
Page 232 and 233: marbling in the mihrab has been str
Page 234 and 235: oundels. The largest in the centre
Page 236 and 237: al-Ahmar and Sharia Abu Huraybah, n
Page 238 and 239: The Mamluk factions that precipitat
Page 240 and 241: lower floors contained latrines, ni
Page 242 and 243: cessors. Egypt then became a provin
Page 244: The use of terracotta- and biscuit-
Page 247 and 248: above: Interior of the mosque of Mu
Page 249 and 250: Notes and References 240 The Art an
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Chronology of Dynasties and Rulers
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Table of Dynasties Islamic Calendar
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Acknowledgements The Publishers wou
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Armenian district 104 Armenians 46,
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ewers (aquamaniles) metalwork 83-4,
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al-Salih’s (Salihiya) 116-18, 137
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60-1, 225 Philo of Byzantium 188 Ph
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ulers 257 textiles 73-6, 195 woodwo
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The Art And Architecture of Islamic Cairo

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