This panel is a nineteenth century replica of a Mamluk minbar panel. The Mamluks were a dynasty who ruled Egypt between 1250 and 1517 A.D. During the Mamluk period highly ornate wooden Islamic pulpits known as minbars were commissioned for the Mosques and Madrassas of Egypt. These were covered with ornate ivory plaques. This object was probably made in Cairo between 1860 and 1878 A.D out of a selection of older minbar plaques. The ivory plaques date from between 1300 and 1340 A.D whilst the chequered plaques were probably made between 1480 and 1520 A.D. This panel was either bought or commissioned by the French Count Gaston Saint Maurice. The Count probably used the panel as a decorative fitting within his Neo-Mamluk home in the centre of Cairo. This object was placed on display at the1878 Exposition Universelle in Paris. This panel is a good example of the use of two inlay techniques which are rarely seen together in minbar construction. It is also an excellent example of a composite object made for the Islamic Art Market during the latter half of the nineteenth century.
Physical description
This object is a composite of different wooden elements.
This surface of this panel has been covered in inlay. The inlay is made from various plaques made from coloured wood, ivory or bone. Each individual ivory plaque is different, even though they have all been carved with a floriated scrollwork motif. Each plaque has an ivory band framing the inner inlay. The marquetry frame has also been decorated with thin bands of ivory or bone inlay. In the outer corners of the inlay are smaller inlaid elements, which form a chequered star effect. Small rectangular plaques above and below the main inlay space contain an Arabic inscription. Both the frame and marquetry appears to be a later addition.
Place of Origin
Egypt (made)
Cairo, Egypt
Africa
Date
1860-1878 (designed)
1300-1340 (Carved)
1480 - 1520 (Carved)
Artist/maker
unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Carved ivory and ebony plaques inlaid into modern wooden frame
Dimensions
Height: 202.5 cm, Width: 44 cm, Depth: 4.5 cm
Object history note
This panel was originally designed and made in the nineteenth century. It has been constructed from different wooden elements which were made during different periods of Egyptian Islamic history. The carved ivory plaques would have originally decorated the surface of a minbar (pulpit within in a mosque). They were carved during the Mamluk period under the Bahri Mamluks (1250 to 1382 A.D). These plaques were probably carved between 1300 and 1340 A.D. The carving on the ivory plaques is also similar in style to those found on the screen of the Al Mu’allaqa Coptic church in Cairo made at the beginning of the fourteenth century between 1300 and 1320 A.D. In contrast, the black and white plaques were probably made towards the end of Burgi Mamluk rule (1382 to 1517 A.D), between 1480 and 1520. They are similar in style to plaques found on the minbar and qur’an stand of the Madrassa-Mausoleum complex of Sultan al- Ghuri built between 1504- 1505. They are influenced by Ottoman designs.
Mamluk minbars in Cairo were decorated with individually carved ivory and wood inlay plaques, which were set into complex geometric patterns. The early ivory plaques represent a transition in the carving process: before the fourteenth century minbar plaques were mainly carved from wood. In contrast the later chequered plaques represent the end of the Mamluk period in Egypt (1500- 1515 A.D) when the techniques of ivory and wood carving were lost.
Both the wooden frame and its marquetry are later nineteenth century additions. The panel was made for the nineteenth century market in Cairo. This object was owned by Count Charles Gaston Esmangard de Bournonville de Saint Maurice (1831-1905). The Count lived in Cairo between 1868 and 1883 where he worked as the Grand Equerry for the Khedive, in charge of the welfare of the Khedive’s horses.
He was a major collector of Islamic Art in Cairo and it is likely that he would have commissioned or purchased this panel. It is also possible that the Count owned the minbar plaques and commissioned the contemporary framing. The Count collected many Islamic objects from the city of Cairo which he used to furnish his home in Cairo. The Count’s home in Cairo was designed by the French architect Ambroise Baudry and built in 1872 in the Neo-Mamluk style. The Neo-Mamluk style was formed from Mamluk architectural motifs such as brown and white striped facades, monumental entranceways and reclaimed mashrabiya windows (turned wood projecting windows). Gaston Saint Maurice’s home was a key example of this style and was located on the newly developed Qasr El- Nil in the modern city centre of Ismailiya the area of Cairo located opposite Gezira island on the east bank of the Nile. The panel would have been part of the furnishings of the interior of the house and would have been used as a door between interconnecting rooms.
In 1878 the Count ran into financial difficulties and put both his Cairo home and its contents up for sale. This panel formed part of what would be later known as the Saint Maurice collection – which was comprised of Middle Eastern objects such as bronze and ivory doors, Persian and Egyptian tiles, mashrabiya windows, wooden inscriptions, clothes and jewellery and a collection of plaster casts. This collection was exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1878. After being placed on display at the 1878 Exposition Universelle, the collection of 200 objects was then lent to the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, from where the South Kensington Museum (V&A) made a large number of purchases to enhance their growing collection of Islamic art. The Musee des Arts Decoratifs also purchased nineteen inlaid panels. Together with the Meymar collection (accessioned in 1867), the Saint Maurice collection expanded the collection of ‘Saracenic’ art – or the art of the Mamluks ( who ruled Egypt and Syria between 1250 and 1517) – in this museum.
Descriptive line
Modern wooden frame inlaid with Mamluk ivory and ebony plaques
Exhibition History
Art Nouveau (Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo 21/04/2001-08/07/2001)
Art Nouveau (National Gallery of Art, Washington 08/10/2000-28/01/2001)
Art Nouveau - 1890-1914 (Victoria and Albert Museum 06/04/2000-30/07/2000)
Materials
Wood; Ivory; Ebony
Categories
Islam; Woodwork; Africa
Collection code
FWK
