Fragment of a plate with figurative decoration

This fragment is from the rim of a plate which had a round rim and oblique sides. The green and manganese ornamentation was applied to a white slip, which also covers the back of the plate; a transparent glaze was applied to keep the piece waterproof and to protect its underlying, very refined and thinly-traced decoration. It appears that some parts of the motif derive their colour from a green glaze. This technique and these types of glazes were used frequently throughout the Mediterranean basin between the 10th and 11th centuries.

This small fragment shows a frontal view of a malicious-looking figure whose elongated face has almond eyes, arched eyebrows and a full beard that reaches to his ears.  

With a finger raised on his right hand, he seems to be beckoning to someone or pointing to something that he fixes with his gaze. He wears a turban of rolled cloth, a piece of which hangs down on one side. In the middle of his forehead, just below the turban, is a little black circle—perhaps a bead or a strand of hair (we have identified exactly the same round point on a turbaned figure on another Fatimid lustreware plate[1]). According to al-Yâkût al-Hamawî, the site of Qal‘a was known for its fabrication of gold turbans resembling crowns and renowned for their quality.

This lively style of painting with its vivacious, humoristic portraiture shares much in common with Fatimid productions. A drawing in Cairo’s museum[2] depicting two warriors set about a stylised tree shows a striking resemblance between the figures on this fragment and the warrior on the left. Apart from the same posture: frontal view, a raised finger on the left hand and dressed with a turban; there are also similar physical traits: a sideways-looking glance, a beard that reaches the ears. The two black balls that frame his face clearly relate to his stylised hair and the end of his beard (on the Qal‘a fragment, the motif, while similar, is nevertheless more modest in size).

We come across figures with a similar treatment of the face, but rounder, on ivory and Fatamid lusterware, and on fragments of frescoes in stucco, discovered in a hammam at Fustat. Sculpted wooden panels from Cairo also display many turbaned figures in a variety of different postures and expressions.  The tracery of the figures also evokes figurative depictions from the Baghdad school (11th and 13th centuries), for their poses and expressions, but here with more realism and refinery in their details. This figure also has common features with the figures decorating the palatine Chapel of Palermo.

This small fragment of a smiling figure testifies to the presence of depictions of human figures in the Muslim world, despite the commonly held assumption that the spread of Islam did away with all figurative representation. Such images have persisted more or less consistently to this day, beginning with the Umayyad epoch, from Central Asia to Spain, on supports that are as varied as the representations themselves.

[1] Fragment of a metallic lustre plate, Egypt, 11th-12th century, Collection al-Sabah, Dâr al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, LNS 21 C.

[2] Drawing with two warriors, Egypt, Fustât, 11th century, ink on paper, Cairo, Museum of Islamic Art, inv.13703.