Carved wooden ceiling with a square light in the centre, Egyptian or Spanish 15th century.

Probably museum number 1195-1883. It was displayed in the 20th century in the apsidal end of the Raphael Gallery, built into the ceiling either side of a larger ceiling, (museum number 407-1905). The ceilings were taken down in 1993 and moved to the Battersea Store.

In 2011, the ceiling was dismantled into two main parts so one is 1/3 and the other is 2/3 of the whole (this is the one we thought we would have trouble with) and eight small parts from the front and back of the ceiling. We also found a small box of fragments attached to the A-frame which must be from when they took down in the 90s, they have come off the front of the ceiling.' (Tony Ryan, Tech services, May 2011).

The parts were moved to the Dean Hill Store in Wiltshire. The central panel was LOST.841 and another fragment 842. These parts were merged with the ceiling catalogue record and made into parts 12 and 13 of LOST.839. (There is a possibility that the parts might be tagged with the wrong number at Dean Hill (LOST 258 or 259, the wrong numbers entirely).

If from Cairo, it should be transferred to MES. If Spanish, it is Mudejar, post-Islamic, made for Christian patrons in the late 15th century and later, who wanted their interiors decorated with Islamic styles. It has nothing in common with Syrian ceilings but is similar to the so-called Spanish ceiling in the Metropolitan Museum, New York.

Records cannot currently be found for this section of ceiling.

FWK.LOST.839-2007