المؤلف
Unknown (makers)
تاريخ النشر
1302
مكان النشر
Alhambra (made) -
الموضوع
Architecture Islam
النوع
أخرى
اللغة
غير محدد
رقمي
نعم
مخطوط
لا
الأبعاد الفيزيائية
Height: 21.9cm, Depth: 5cm, Width: 33cm
المكتبة
Victoria and Albert Museum
معرف أصل المكتبة
360-1901
رقم السجل
360-1901
موقع المكتبة
Middle East Section
التاريخ
1302
ملاحظات
Alhambra. Sculpture; Gypsum plaster painted, Islamic Spain style 1302-1309.
نص عينة
ÙÙا غاÙب اÙا اÙÙÙTransliteration'wa la ghalib ila Allah'Translation'There is no conqueror but God'NoteAt a higher level and superimposing this relief there are Arabic inscriptions of the cursive type depicting the Nasrid dynasty motto âthere is not conqueror but Allahâ., Transliteration,
Malzemeler ve teknikler
Gypsum plaster, gilded, moulded, cast Gypsum Plaster Gilding Moulded Cast
Fiziksel açıklama
This fragment of plasterwork corresponds to a frieze. The top and bottom is framed by a strapwork decoration of two lines in relief that intertwined with each other in knots at an approximate distance of ten cm. The centre of the frieze presents two different carving motifs at different levels: over a flat background there is a complex relief of vegetal elements or âatauriqueâ depicting palm leaves and pepper corns that filled the background with their intertwined movement. At a higher level and superimposing this relief there are Arabic inscriptions of the cursive type depicting the Nasrid dynasty motto âthere is not conqueror but Allahâ. It seems that this motto was used for first time by al-Mansur in the battle of Alarcos in 1195 and later on would be Muhammad the 1st that would embrace this same motto as the symbol for the Nasrid dynasty born with him. The motto would be profusely used in the palace decoration particularly in the plasterwork where appears repeated in doorways, windows and walls. This motto appears on the first coins made by Muhammad the 1st as well as in the plasterwork in the Court of the Acequia in the Generalife Palace, which are among the first representations in gypsum plaster of this motto. At a higher level and superimposing this relief there are Arabic inscriptions of the cursive type depicting the Nasrid dynasty motto âthere is not conqueror but Allahâ. The fragment is a composition of two different panels that were mounted onto the wall as part of the same inscription. The panels are made of white gypsum plaster with a priming layer of thin white plaster as a priming layer. Over this layer there are traces of red vermillion over the background, Azurite blue on the vegetal decorations, traces of tin foil on the inscriptions and carbon black on the lines painted over the strapwork. This panel comes from the Entrance doorway to the Palace of the Partal. This Palace was built on the North wall of the Alhambra complex by Muhamad the 3rd (kingdom 1302-1309). It was below the area called High Partal where his father Muhammad the 2nd had his palaces which would be destroyed in the 18th century. What remains today of the original Palace, its just its north side, but the relevance of this building is that is one of the oldest parts of the Alhambra and responds to Almohad and early Nasrid architectural traditions, but represents at the same time an evolution towards what the Nasrid architecture would be in the 14th century. Technical Description Gypsum plaster This fragment of plasterwork presents two different main layers or types of gypsum plaster corresponding at the front with the ornamented cast panel, and at the back with the gypsum mixture that fixed the panel to the wall which would have been pored from the top while the cast panel had bee propped up against wall. The different gypsums present are: â¢The gypsum from the panel is very white, very fine and of good quality, under optical observation very little impurities can be observed and there is an abundance of air bubbles of different sizes particularly visible from the back, showing that the panels were cast. â¢The back mortar is of a grey tonality and of a more heterogeneous nature with evidently more presence of impurities. It corresponds with typical black gypsum used mainly to fix cast panels to a wall. It is very interesting to observe that this fragment corresponds to two different panels which were mounted together, with the fixing black gypsum plaster, to form part of the same frieze. The area of contact where this two panels meet has not been worked with extra plaster to hide the joint, instead the area was clumsily covered just with the white priming layer which does not completely hide the line of contact and the misalignment of the elements, rather odd for a plaster of this period which are usually very delayed and carefully finished. The back is as interesting as the front as it gives us clues of how the panel was attached to the wall following the typical Nasrid technique. There are remains of blobs of clay âtantosâ used originally to hold the cast panel in place against the wall where it was going to be fixed. Once the panel was levelled in place, thanks to the clay at the back, then the liquid black gypsum would be pored at in the space left between the wall and the back of the panel. Traces of the same âtantosâ can still be observed in situ in the surrounding area of the main entrance doorway to the Palace of the Partal where this panel comes from. Also by looking at the way the black gypsum from the back has set we can also be pretty sure that this panel was situated right at the top of the Alfiz over the entrance doorway of the Partal. Paint layers. The whole of the panel preserves the original white priming layer that covers the gypsum surface of the relief. This layer is very dense and probably composed of gypsum and an organic binder like animal glue. Between this priming layer and the surface of the panel there is a significant orange layer of clay from the releasing agent used during the cast of the panel. This clay was applied to the original mould to avoid the cast to stick to it after the cast process was complete, facilitating at the same time removing the positive from the mould. Its quite interesting to observe that in some areas the clay had big clusters which can be seen now bursting through the white layer. The remains of clay from the releasing agent do allow us to identify this object as an original Nasrid panel. Over this uniform white layer we can observe a rather faint and fine layer of pigment, different to the several levels of the relief: â¢On the background there are mainly reds, just applied on the deepest flat areas. Identified as red vermillion â¢A fine blue with a greenish hue (azurite) appears remaining in small areas on the vegetal motives throughout the panel. â¢The cursive inscriptions are covered with small black dots residues of corroded tin foil, probably part of a fake gilding or âcorladuraâ in spanish. It can be observed that this metallic foil has been applied to the gypsum with a transparent yellowish matter probably a resinous size. â¢There are traces of black lines found over the edges of the panel emphasising the strapwork on these areas. These lines seem to be carbon black. â¢There are traces of a layer of white over paint, probably juts a scheme of gypsum applied over most of the high relief affecting the inscriptions and the vegetal decorations, hiding the fake gold layer. This is obviously a much later intervention related to the Christian period trying to hide the colour on the decorations.
Üslup
Islamic Spain
