Basin in sculpted marble

Discovered at the Lake Palace, this rectangular marble basin was found buried underneath a foundation in the north-west corner of the courtyard of the complex. A water pipe led to the site. The basin is not very high; it presents a recess and terminates in a truncated pyramid. The sculpting on its ovoid opening is of great refinement. In sections along the rim of the basin are two poly-lobed forms terminating in scrolls which, in turn, are enclosed by a band in low relief. This band also underlies the outside border. In all four corners is a circular medallion, also in relief.

There are a number of basins from the Caliphate epoch in conservation, most likely all fabricated in Spain. While their decorative style differs greatly from this one, they do have very similar canalization systems. One of them, however, in conservation at Dâr si Said Museum (Morocco)[1], has a similar poly-lobed decorative treatment on the inside of the basin.  

The scrolls that complete the poly-lobed forms are a heritage from Antiquity. Taken up in Islamic art, they were frequently used by the Almohads. The motif of the lobed arch was already present during Antiquity; as we see in Sassanian productions from Ctesiphon. During the Islamic period, it began to appear in the early Abbassid period: a seven-lobed arch forms one of the entrances to the little mosque of the Ukhaydir Palace (Iraq). Very frequent in Spain and in the Maghreb, these lobed arches appear on the cedar panels of the minbar, and in the stucco niches in the transitional section of the cupola of the Great Mosque of Kairouan (9th century). They occur again in the Great Mosque of Algiers (1097), in that of Tinmal (11th-12th century), of Tlemcen (1136), and in the Kutubiyya mosque of Marrakesh (1162). The caliphate of Córdoba consequently made much use of it, as did the Taifas and the Nasrids, notably in the Great Mosque of Córdoba, in the area built under the reign of al-Hakam, in the Ajaferia of Saragossa and later in the Alhambra.

What marked all these periods was the public utility of water, present in public basins and fountains. When the Romans built their cities, or took possession of one, they immediately set about elaborating irrigation systems. In the Christian world, the monasteries testify to a number of public works involving hydraulic public works. All the cloisters had beautiful stone or marble basins and fountains in the middle of their gardens or running along one of the galleries.  In Islamic culture, water also played an important role in palatial settings. Marble or stone water recipients like this one came in all different shapes and sizes, and were used as much indoors as outside, decorating courtyards and gardens. Apart from their utilitarian function, they kept the place cool and provided a pleasant display.  In public places, fountains were used to provide water and to decorate the streets; they were often given as a waqf or charitable endowment by a sovereign or lord.  These fountains were placed in the centre of patios, open to the public, fixed to a facade or sometimes set in the recess of a wall, under an arch covered with ceramic tiles. In the mosques and madrasa, the courtyards were decorated with basins, primarily for the faithful to perform their ablutions.