The Art And Architecture of Islamic Cairo
The Art And Architecture of Islamic Cairo
The Art And Architecture of Islamic Cairo
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craftsmen, although their origin is uncertain. Details <strong>of</strong> style<br />
suggest they may have come from Iraq, but the content <strong>of</strong> the work<br />
and the broader features <strong>of</strong> design also point to Fatimid Egypt.<br />
Whether the artists themselves were Egyptian or not, the work as a<br />
whole provides the clearest indication <strong>of</strong> what contemporary<br />
Fatimid painting was like. Precious few examples survive in Egypt,<br />
the most notable being some eleventh-century stucco fragments<br />
painted on the muqarnas <strong>of</strong> a Fustat bath-house in the Museum <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Islamic</strong> <strong>Art</strong>, <strong>Cairo</strong>. <strong>The</strong> Palermo ceiling is painted and gilded with<br />
ranks <strong>of</strong> muqarnas and a galaxy <strong>of</strong> star-like c<strong>of</strong>fered polygons<br />
indented with shell-motifs. Each polygon is framed with a band <strong>of</strong><br />
Kufic and the petal-like lobes <strong>of</strong> the shell are decorated with fine<br />
arabesques, figures and animals.<br />
According to Richard Ettinghausen the text for the main theme<br />
<strong>of</strong> these paintings could be taken from an inscription on Roger II’s<br />
robe, ‘<strong>The</strong> pleasures <strong>of</strong> days and nights without surcease or change’. 8<br />
<strong>The</strong> subject matter and style echoes the decorative art <strong>of</strong> the Fatimids,<br />
although the detail lacks the refinement <strong>of</strong> the ivories. <strong>The</strong>re are feasts<br />
and banquets with enthroned potentates, slave-girls, scarf dancers,<br />
seated musicians and wine-drinkers, as well as standing shepherds,<br />
harvesters and labourers. Isolated figures, such as the shepherd<br />
carrying a ram on his shoulders and the labourer holding a barrel, are<br />
wreathed in arabesque like the Fatimid ivories. Tall date palms with<br />
twisted trunks stand and divide pairs <strong>of</strong> lute players and languid<br />
wine-drinkers, while elsewhere high-stepping camels proudly carry<br />
their riders and court ladies with due pomp and circumstance. <strong>The</strong><br />
facets and corners <strong>of</strong> the muqarnas are filled with harpies and exotic<br />
birds, and in some instances heraldic birds and beasts reach new<br />
levels <strong>of</strong> stylization and abstraction. In the Ascension Scene there is,<br />
according to Ettinghausen, a ‘royal apotheosis’ set in the middle <strong>of</strong> a<br />
stylized eagle holding two antelopes in its talons. 9 <strong>The</strong> level <strong>of</strong> invention<br />
and abstraction recalls illuminated initials in contemporary<br />
Romanesque manuscripts.<br />
FATIMID METALWORK<br />
One famous heraldic beast which has intrigued scholars for<br />
generations is the bronze gryphon in the Museo dell’Opera del<br />
Duomo in Pisa. It once stood as a trophy on the Duomo in Pisa, but<br />
where it came from originally has always been in doubt. It has been<br />
variously attributed to Spain, Sicily, Tunisia, Fatimid Egypt or<br />
Persia. According to Marilyn Jenkins, primary sources suggest that<br />
above: Camel riders: twelfth century<br />
(ceiling <strong>of</strong> the Cappella Palatina, Palermo).<br />
<strong>The</strong> Decorative <strong>Art</strong>s <strong>of</strong> the Tulunids and Fatimids 81