Plate with animated tendrils

This fragment of marble plate is delineated on three sides by a frame enclosing a frieze of fish with open mouths alternating with fish with closed mouths. The rest of the field is ornamented with four vertical almond-shaped motifs evolving from two intertwining lines, which develop into half-palmettes in the intervening spaces. There are mythical creatures in these medallions: harpies (birds with the faces of women, depicted here with peacock tails) in the top and bottom medallions, sphinxes (winged lion with a human head), and mermaids (creature with the head and upper body of a woman and the tail of a fish).

Some of these motifs, such as the harpies and sphinxes, are found in Iran and Anatolia during the Seljuk period, in Egypt and Sicily during the Fātimid period, and in Syria and Egypt during the Ayyūbid and Mamlūk periods. They are found, for example, on ceramic sculptures in the round that most probably served as waterspouts[1], on Fātimid lustred ceramic bowls, and on many ivory objects attributed to Sicily. Small wooden rectangular plates originating from the Qalāʾūn complex in Cairo are also ornamented with similar motifs of animals in relief, including a harpy and a sphinx[2].

Harpies, which were common in the classical world, disappeared from oriental decorative vocabulary for many centuries and re-appeared in the eleventh century. Harpies and sphinxes are often associated with the idea of ascension and light, and are found on many lamps. Pegasus and sirens were also a part of classical iconography. Although Pegasus featured in the art of the Umayyad period (complex of Khirbat al-Mafjar, Syria) and in Iranian Seljuk art (textile in the Cluny museum), sirens were unusual. Fish are a common ornamental motif in Islam, and are often found on inlaid metals and enamelled glassware—maybe in relation to the function of these pieces.

During the twelfth century, which saw the arrival of the Turks in Anatolia and the first Crusades, there were large movements of people and a wealth of contacts in the Al Jazeera region. Motifs and techniques were transmitted to other regions, and there was interchange between the Christian West and the Turkish, Arabic, and Persian East[3]. The decoration on this plate attests to various influences. There is a combination of Islamic iconography and oriental Christian decorative elements. The fish on the plate have been represented with a bulk and expressiveness that are reminiscent of certain Byzantine, Paleo-Christian, and Coptic works. This is also the case for the mermaids, whose concentric lines on the stomach are reminiscent of paintings in contemporary Byzantine manuscripts and certain representations of female dancers in Samarra in Iraq, Egypt, and Fātimid Sicily.

The presence of fish and mermaids may indicate that the plate’s function had some connection with water, and that it may be a fragment of a basin or fountain.

[2] The Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, inv. 3469-3466.

[3] The lintel, which belonged to the portal on the south facade of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (marble, 1149, Jerusalem, Rockefeller Museum), is ornamented with a tendril motif, in which there’s a combination of motifs from various cultures (a harpy and a centaur).