Leaves from the door of the maristan of Qalā’ūn

These two door leaves may be dated to the Fatimid period. They were reused in the maristan (hospital) of the Mamluk Sultan Qalā’ūn, a common practice during this period, particularly for wood, a rare commodity in Egypt. Like several pieces of woodwork found in the same place, including a particularly large frieze, they might be from the small Fatimid palace restored under al-Mustansir in 1058, over which Qalā’ūn’s complex was built. A very similar wooden element[1], found during excavations on the site of the palace, backs up this hypothesis.

Their upper section cut, the leaves comprise sixteen sculpted panels each, arranged in two vertical registers and framed by undecorated jambs connected with mortice and tenon joints. The same type of arrangement is found in several Fatimid doors, used in Muslim[2][3]contexts, as well as in works from other regions, such as the door of the palace of Jawsaq al-Khaqani[4] an or Christiand the doors of the sanctuary of San Michele sul Gargano in Foggia, which were produced in Constantinople in 1076.

Each sculpted panel is different, but all of them feature the same design, typical of the Fatimids, characterised by a vertical axis of symmetry: in the centre, a large curved medallion with an appendage around which are organised fine plant-like scrolls with nodules treated almost as openwork. Lively figures fill both rinceaux and medallions. They include three types of real animals: hares, birds and caprids (perhaps antelopes), alone or fighting. Common in Fatimid works, this repertory was used in Islamic lands in different places and periods, as well as in Andalusian ivories and Iranian ceramics. This bestiary is also found in contemporary Byzantine and Sicilian works, the motifs travelled via trade and the journeys of artists. Also present on the woodwork, the harpy, a motif with its origins in antiquity[5], was widely used beginning in the Fatimid period. Like the real animals, it travelled to Iran, Anatolia and the Byzantine and Western worlds.

The figures are mainly depicted seated, holding a cup or playing musical instruments (lute, tambourine), but some of them, standing, seem to be dancing. This iconography refers to princely pleasures. It was often used in Fatimid Egypt, on woodwork[6], ivories[7] and lustreware[8], and more generally, very developed in Islamic lands. It has its sources in works produced prior to this civilisation: the motif of the figure with a cup may be dated back to the royal and divine images of Central Asia. Whatever the case, this traditional representation of the prince was used in the Islamic world as well as in Iran (where the cup had an esoteric value), Egypt (Fatimid, Ayyubid, then Mamluk) and Spain. It may also be found on the ceiling of the palatine chapel of Palermo, executed by Muslim craftsmen from Ifriqiya or Egypt.

[2] Door of the tomb of Dayr al-Banat, eleventh century, Cairo.

[3] Door of the iconostasis of the church of Saint Barbara, tenth century, Cairo.

[4] Door, 836, Samarra, Jawsaq al-Khaqani, wood, Musée du Louvre Paris, AA 126.

[5] In ancient Egypt, it personified the ba, the soul of the deceased.

[6] Ceiling panel, Egypt, eleventh century, Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, 441.

[7] Facing plaque with figurative decoration, Egypt, twelfth–thirteenth century, ivory, Museum für islamische Kunst, Berlin, 16365.

[8] Dish with female rabāb player, Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo, 14923.