Door

NEP37.2

From: Egypt | Cairo

Curatorial Section: Near Eastern

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Object Number NEP37.2
Current Location Collections Storage
Provenience Egypt | Cairo
Date Made 1400-1499
Section Near Eastern
Materials Wood | Ivory | Stone
Technique Carved
Iconography Arabic Inscription
Inscription Language Naskhi | Naskhi
Description

Carved wood and mosaic. Wooden doors carved inlaid with ivory. Frame of mosaic. With large fountain. Martinovitch notes: Carved wooden door No.4 Arabic inscription in four medallions,In the 15th century among the Mamlukes of Egypt there were seven with the name Saif-ad-Din.

[door on viewer's right]

"Pair of wooden marquetry doors inlaid with carved ivory and uncarved bone set in a stone mosaic frame. These doors come from the same reception room of a house in Cairo as the large fountain at the opposite end of the gallery. The wood pieces are carved with arabesques or are inlaid with similarly carved but reused ivory plaques and uncarved (camel) bone strips. They are arranged in a geometrical design base on a 12-point star.

The ivory panels at the top and bottom of each door bear inscriptions in Naskhi (cursive) script reading "Of what was made by the order of his Excellency, the noble, the exalted, lord, Amir, the generous, Saif (ad-Din), the king, the victorious."

The frame is made of red, black, and white stone mosaic in the star and cross pattern."

Credit Line Purchased from K. Ispanien, 1919

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