Frieze with animated scenes

This long carved wooden frieze ornamented the western palace in Cairo, which was restored by Caliph al-Mustansir between 1058 and 1065, during the Fātimid period. It has only survived because it was re-used during the Mamlūk period in the māristān in the Complex of Sultan Qalāʾūn, which was built in the same place. The re-use of materials, particularly wood, was a common practice. The wood—which could not be found in Egypt and therefore had to be imported—was worked extensively and remained in a good state of preservation due to the climate. There are many inlaid and carved examples—both Christian and Muslim—dating from the Fātimid and Ayyūbid periods. Since wood was rare, these tend to be religious objects and objects related to power. There are also mihrābs, cenotaphs, furnishings, and many architectural elements, such as friezes and door leaves, like those in the māristān in the Qalāʾūn Complex.

Designed to be placed at the top of a wall, the carving, even though it has been executed on two levels, isn’t well-defined; animated scenes stand out in high relief from a vegetal background, as on other works in wood from the same period and on certain ivories. The frieze, which is very long, was painted, which explains why certain details—particularly the facial features—are missing.

The decoration is organized in three bands: two bands of vegetal motifs run either side of a larger band, divided into elongated hexagons and lobed squares, resting on their corners. These sections in relief are often delineated by two long leaves that spill out of a vase placed in the centre of the scene, dividing it in two. The animated motifs essentially comprise representations of animals (birds, hares, antelopes, and sphinxes) and scenes with people, whose iconography combines daily life (merchant with a dromedary) with princely pursuits (fighting and hunting scenes, and feasts with drinking, dancers, and musicians). The ceiling of the Palatine Chapel in Palermo, which was built a little later (1140), also has depictions of animals and scenes with dancing, fighting, and drinking, which are often enclosed in  cartouches in the form of lobed squares, resting on their corners.

There are many recurring motifs in the Islamic world, such as the seated man holding a goblet. Possibly originating in Central Asia, this theme is even found in Spain, where it is present on many ivories[1]. This person, who may be a prince, is sometimes accompanied by musicians or dancers; they sometimes have their own sections. Musicians are often depicted playing a flute, a tambourine or a lute—instruments that are found in contemporary Egyptian[2], Andalusian[3], and Western works[4]. Female dancers swirl veils around, which is common in the iconography of Fātimid art[5]. The dance of the veils is still performed today, in Greece and Turkey. Dancers in a similar position, with or without veils, are found in many Islamic representations—in the frescoes of Qasr Amra, for example.

The taste for animated representations subsequently became part of the tradition in Iranian and Mediterranean antiquity, represented in Egypt by the art of the Copts. A set of ivory plaques dating from the twelfth century[6] has an iconography and style very similar to those of the frieze. The taste for these representations also existed in Europe, in the margins of manuscripts, and on objets d’art. Tendrils with figures, especially common in Italian and Rheno-Mosan art in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, are sometimes reminiscent of those on Fātimid works in wood and ivories, as is the case on the mounting of a rock crystal cruet kept in the Treasury of St Mark’s in Venice[7].

[2] Dish with female musician playing a rubab (lute-like instrument), Egypt, eleventh century, ceramic with lustred decorations, Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, inv. 14923; statuette of female musician, Fustāt, Egypt, eleventh century, bronze, Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, 6983.

[3] Davillier pyxis, Spain, Madinat al-Zahra, c.970, ivory, Louvre Museum, Paris, OA 2774.

[4] Tympanum in the abbaye aux Dames, Saintes, France.

[5] Dish with female dancer, Egypt, end of the eleventh to the beginning of the twelfth century, ceramic with lustred decorations, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington DC, 46.30; polygonal assembly piece, Egypt, eleventh to twelfth century, boxwood, Louvre Museum, Paris, MAO 471. There are many other such examples.

[6] Ivory plaquettes, Egypt, eleventh century, Museo Nazionale Del Bargello (Bargello art museum), Florence.

[7] Cruet with rams, Cairo, end of tenth century, rock crystal, Venice, Treasury of St Mark’s Cathedral, 86.