Middle East, woodwork. Six rectangular wooden panels carved with Arabic inscriptions, commissioned by Mamluk Sultan Lajin, Cairo, Egypt, 1296.

This object is comprised of six rectangular panels. Four panels have been carved with Arabic inscriptions. The surface of the other two panels has been incised with floriated circular scrollwork. On one of the scrollwork panels there is evidence of a yellow pigment, which suggests that the panel was once painted.

This set of Lajin panels was purchased in Paris as part of "Dr Meymar's Collection", a group of historic objects sent to France by the Egyptian government, for display at the international exhibition of 1867. In 1869, following discussions at a parliamentary Select Committee in London, the South Kensington Museum (today the V&A) was authorised to buy this collection, with British government funds. "Dr Meymar" was Husayn Fahmi (c.1827-1891), also called Husayn Pasha al-Mi`mar or al-Mi`mari (transliterated as "Meymar", meaning architect), a senior official in the Egyptian administration. He was (in 1864) the chief architect of the Majlis al-Tanzim wa'l-Urnatu, a committee in charge of public works in Cairo, and later (1882-5) a member of the Comite de conservation des monuments de l'Art arabe, which oversaw Cairo's historic heritage. Throughout his career, he was responsible for salvage and removal of historic architectural fittings, and for the construction of modern monuments and streets in the Egyptian capital.

In The Art of the Saracens in Egypt, Stanley Lane-Poole (1854-1931) described the Lajin minbar panels are exceptional examples of carving skill, representing the peak of Mamluk design. The panels are also excellent examples of Mamluk wood carving: ivory would later eclipse wood as the chief material used in minbar inlay, as wood panel production declined during the fifteenth century.

Over the second half of the nineteenth century the Lajin panels became collectible objects. Reporting on the 1867 Paris exhibition, Adalbert de Beaumont noted that "Dr Meymarie" (i.e. Husayn Fahmi) had recovered many decorative woodwork fragments from the mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo, damaged during renovations to the mihrab area. By 1885 the Lajin minbar had been stripped of its panels as interest in the Middle East peaked.

Comes from the minbar commissioned by Sultan Lajin for the Mosque of Ibn Tulun in 1296.

These six panels are fine examples of Mamluk woodcarving. The Mamluks ruled both Egypt and Syria between 1250 and 1517A.D. They were keen patrons of architecture and built many sacred buildings in the city of Cairo.

This group of panels once formed the surface decoration of a minbar (pulpit in a mosque) which was commissioned by Sultan Lajin (d. 1299 A.D) in Cairo, Egypt. It was made in 1296 A.D and placed in the Mosque of Ibn Tulun (built 876-79A.D). Lajin chose to restore the mosque, after he used the dilapidated building as a shelter whilst hiding from his enemies. He vowed that if he survived, he would repay the mosque by repairing it to its former glory. These exquisite minbar panels are an example of his vow.

1052:1 to 6-1869