Water pitcher in the name of al-‘Azîz Billâh

This water pitcher is characterised by a short neck, a pouring lip, a pear shaped body, a large apodal base and a handle with a flat section forming an angle. An inscription in Cufic letters in the name of the caliph al-‘Azîz Billâh (r. 975-996) occupies the upper part of the belly of the pitcher which displays a couple of cheetahs sitting of either side of a palm bush. The handle cut in profile is ornamented with two half palm leaves; at its top, the thumb piece is a little wild goad lying down.

This pitcher is part of a series of pieces similar in form, height and technique[1], the ornamental aspect and the style of the decoration in quite high and flat relief, all these pieces would appear to come from the same workshop[2].

As a point of reference for the study of these objects since the inscription it carries enables us to attribute it with assurance, the pitcher analysed here is the oldest rock crystal of which can be dated with confidence from the Fatimid era. Two other dedicated pieces are later: a pitcher with the name of the Fatimid general Husayn ibn Jawhar (1000-1008)[3], and an ornament (probably for a horse) in a half-moon shape in the name of the Fatimid caliph al-Zâhir (r. 1021-1036)[4].

Rock crystal work, known throughout the classical world as Sassanid, reached a remarkable technical and decorative level in Islam where objects with diverse forms and functions were created: cups, pitchers, gourds and flasks, but also chess pieces, ornaments, parts of furniture, sword or dagger handles, lamps. Their aesthetic qualities and the physical particularities of the material which evoke magical and symbolic dimensions[5], explain that these objects were greatly appreciated, including in the West, were they arrived through exchanges of goods among the powerful[6], such as war loot or objects from a flourishing luxury trade. We know of at least 180 examples dating from the 9^th – 11^th centuries, including many which are preserved in church treasuries, but also in public and private collections[7], which only accounts for a small portion of the mediaeval Islamic production reflected in written sources[8].

The texts describe the activity of Syrian and Mesopotamian workshops in the Abbassid era and a little flask dating from the first half or the 10^th century was found in Wasit (Iraq)[9]. Basra was famous in this field, as in the field of carved glass and the oriental tradition appears to have extended until the 11^th century. On the other hand, an Iranian chalice from the 9^th – 10^th centuries found in Qazvin (Iran) is preserved in the British Museum[10].

In Egypt, rock crystal work can be evidenced from the Tulunid period (868-935), examples of which show Abbassid influences (“bevelled style”)[11], but it reached its apogee under the Fatimids. Beyond splendid objects for the Caliph court mentioned by Nâsir-i Khusraw[12], a Persian traveller who visited Cairo twice between 1047 and 1050, but also by the qâdî Ibn al-Zubayr (11^th century) and al-Maqrizî (14^th century)[13], there was a production aimed at the market. If the findings in rock crystal are relatively rare and their archaeological context often uncertain, the digs in Fustat enabled the findings of large remains which confirm local Fatimid production.

Finally, certain objects with a body characterised by smooth facets could be attributed to southern Italian production, maybe even Sicilian, from the 12^th century[14]. These included two lion heads preserved in the Badisches Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe and the Museum für Islamische Kunst in Berlin[15]. With the same background, but from a later date (end 12^th – beg. 13^th century) a sword handle exists which  is preserved in the Treasury of the cathedral at Enna[16].

[2] For an inventory, with an essential bibliography cf. Grube 1993, cat. 60, note 1, p. 151. Even though they are more problematic, two other pitchers would appear to belong to the same group, according to A. Contadini (1999, p. 321): one is preserved at the Hermitage of Saint-Petersburg; the other, which has disappeared today, would have belonged to the treasury of the church of Milhaguet (cf. Lamm 1929-30, tav. 67.5-6).

[3] Florence, Palazzo Pitti, Museo degli Argenti, inv. n. 1917. Cf. Rice, D.S., “A datable Islamic rock crystal”, in Oriental Art, n.s., II, 1956, p. 85-93; Grube 1993, cat. n. 62. The piece has recently been destroyed (Contadini 1999, p. 321, note 18).

[4] Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, inv. KG.695; cf. Ettinghausen in EI, III, 2de éd., 1971, p. 381 and table XII, fig. 7; Contadini 1999, fig. 1.

[5] Cf. Scerrato 1979, p. 497-498.

[6] Al-Qalqashandî reports that the Fatimid caliph al-Hâfiz sent presents to Roger II of Sicily (1130-1154); cf. Canard M., “Une lettre du calife fatimite al-Hâfiz (524-54/1130-1149) à Roger II”, in Id., Miscellanea Orientalia, Londres, 1973. Two rock crystals sent to Roger are preserved today in the  musée du Louvre: cf. Johns, J.,  “I re normanni e i califfi fatimidi. Nuove prospettive su vecchi materiali”, in Del nuovo sulla Sicilia musulmana (Roma, 3 maggio 1993), Rome, 1995, p. 9-50.

[7] The two most important public collections are that of the Treasury of Saint Mark in Venice and the Victoria and Albert MuseumLondon. in

[8] According to the sources, the Fatimid caliphs’ treasure, at the time of is dispersion between 1061 and 1069, would have contained between 18000 and 36000 of them.

[9] Contadini 1998, p. 323; Scerrato 1979, p. 499; For Wasit, cf. Erdmann 1959.

[10] Ghirshmann, R., Iran. From the Earliest Times to the Islamic Conquest, Harmondswort, 1954, table 46a; Catalogue The Arts of Islam, Hayward Gallery, “The Arts Council of Great Britain”, 1976, n. 102.

[11] For example, two parts of banisters re-used as chandeliers, preserved in the Treasury of  Saint Mark in Venice(inv. n. 24 et 25), cf. Scerrato 1979, p. 500 and drawing p. 509.

[12] Safer-nameh, Shefer, C. (pub.), Paris, 1881, republished Amsterdam, 1970, p. 149.

[13] Cf. Kahle, P., “Die Schätze der Fâtimiden”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgeländischen Gesellschaft, 89, 1935, p. 329-362, above all p. 345.

[14] An attribution to Norman Sicily was advance by H. Wentzel 1939 and 1948.

[15] Both iconographically recall the lion heads of the mantle of Roger II and the fountain of Zisa in Palermo: Shalem, A., The Rock-Cristal Lionhead in the Badisches Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe, in Barrucand, M., (pub.), L’Egypte Fatimide: son art et son histoire, Paris, 1999, p. 359-366.

[16] Cf. Guastella, C., “Due frammenti di cristallo di rocca per una spada da cerimonia”, in Andaloro, M. (pub.), Federico e la Sicilia (cat. exp., Palermo, 1994-1995), Palermo, 1995, vol. II, Arti figurative e arti suntuarie, p. 156-159. dalla terra alla corona,