The chair of Saint Peter

This chair originates from the church of San Pietro di Castello in Venice, seat of the Venetian Patriarchate between 1451 and 1807. Several parts in white marble form the back, the arm rests and the side of the seat, placed on a very pale pink sandstone base. The back, the only decorated part of the chair, is made from a square re-used Islamic stone with a manly lobed shape on top. A band in Cufic underlines the border on both sides. In the upper part, a pearled ribbon in relief draws two stars with six points linked by a circular medallion on a very fine vegetal background. The square part, with no ornamentation on the lower part, has a vegetal decoration above with a “butterfly” motif superimposed, drawn by a slit line.

Many legends surround the object, which was supposed to have belonged to Saint Peter, apostle and first patriarch of the Christian church. The Venetian tradition tells that it was originally found in Antioch (Syria) and that it was given to a doge by a Byzantine emperor in exchange for help given by Venice to recapture Sicily from the Arabs in the middle of the tenth century. However, the chair of Saint Peter is traditionally known to have been made from palm wood plated with silver: the San Pietro one is probably not the original piece. No historical source refers to it before the middle of the fourteenth when a Chronicle[1] cites it as being the chair of Peter of Antioch, placed in the church of the Castello quarter.

The shape of the back recalls a mihrâb, the absence of decoration on the lower part and the content of Koranic inscriptions lead us to believe that the piece was a gravestone. The graphics enable us to attribute the back to Syria in the eleventh – twelfth centuries, a period where this regions was under the control of a branch of the Iranian Seljuq line[2]. The same type of writing appears on contemporary Syrian productions[3].

The conditions and the arrival date of the stone in Venice are unknown. It was perhaps brought back from the Crusades: a number of Islamic objects acquired by Byzantium at the time of the dispersion of the Fatimid treasure in the 1160s were brought to Saint Mark’s cathedral during the fourth Crusade in 1204. The war loot in fact brought a number of Islamic objects to the west. This was the case of a pillar capital acquired during the sacking of Almeria (1089) or the Balearic islands (1114), and was installed in the cathedral of Pisa[4].

However the chair arrived in Italy, the presence of an Islamic object in a piece of Christian liturgical furniture, which is known as having belonged to Saint Peter, is emblematic of the relations between the city of the Doges and oriental artistic productions. The desire of asserting Christian supremacy over Islam is probably expressed here. In the same way, gold work attachments encrusted with Fatimid rock crystals from church treasuries marked the appropriation of Islamic objects[5] by Christianity. However, given the vigour of diplomatic, trade and cultural exchanges which did not cease to amplify between Venice and the Muslim countries over the centuries, this re-use probably goes beyond the symbolic of religious domination. Artistic productions from Islamic countries were in fact largely admired by Venetian artists and were sources of inspiration from some which led to local production[6]. Other pieces of liturgical furniture produced in Italy carry the mark of Islamic influence: this is the case of the chair of the cathedral of San Sabino de Canosa (Bari, end twelfth century)[7].

[2] The Seljuqs reigned in Syria from 1078 to1117. This line was founded by the brother of Malik Shâh, Tutush (r. 1078-1095).

[3] Maqsura originating from a Damascan cemetary, poplar wood, Syria, 1104, Damascus, Musée National, inv. 97.

[4] Column capital, Spain, Madînat al-Zahrâ’, 2nd half of the tenth century, carved marble, Pisa, Opera della Primaziale Pisana.

[5] Rock crystal water pitcher decorated with birds, Egypt, end 10th – beg. eleventh century, mounting: Italy, eleventh century, Paris, musée du Louvre, MR 333, originating from the treasury of the Abbey of Saint-Denis.

[6] The series of goblets known as “Aldrevandin” is a manifestation among others of the impact of Islamic decorative arts on Venetian production.

[7] Chair placed on two elephants, Italy, Canosa (Bari), end of 12th century, stone.