The Art And Architecture of Islamic Cairo

CHAPTER THREE
The Decorative Arts of the
Tulunids and Fatimids
70 The Art and Architecture of Islamic Cairo
TULUNID WOODWORK
Due to the dry climate of Egypt, woodwork has been well preserved
since Umayyad times, and because of its scarcity it has been valued
as a precious commodity. The earliest fragments of wood date from
the seventh century and show Coptic influence in the design of
trefoil leafed vine-scrolls framing birds and lions. An eighth-century
fragment in the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, displays a vine tendril
emerging from a vase laden with grapes. It is a motif well established
in early Umayyad art, manifest in the mosaics of the Dome of the
Rock, and in similar wooden panels applied to the roof beams of the
al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem (715). All these works belong to the
Hellenistic ornamental tradition which still flourished in western
Islam, the survival of which we have already observed in the timber
fragments of Amr’s mosque. During the Tulunid period a significant
change of style occurred with the appearance of Eastern motifs and
the adoption of the bevelled style of Samarra C. Persian influence is
clearly revealed in a ninth-century teak frieze in the Museum of
Islamic Art, Cairo. In this item, found in the Southern Cemetery,
self-contained panels of arabesque are adorned intermittently with
Sassanian crowns made up of a circular diadem set between two
upheld wings.
Such an overt use of Persian symbolism is unusual, and more
typical of Eastern influence is the general impact of Samarra style C on
Tulunid woodwork. Wooden fragments from Samarra in the bevelled
style have survived, most notably the wooden door now displayed in
the Metropolitan Museum, New York. Among the earliest surviving