Publication Date
Second half of the 6th century AH / second half of the 12th century AD
Publication Place
-
Batha Museum; Fez
Subject
Carved cedar wood.
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
الارتفاع: 16 سم؛ الطول: 106.5 سم؛ السماكة: 7.5سم
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID
45.87
Record ID
object;ISL;ma;Mus01_C;9;ar
Library Location
Batha Museum; Fez
Date
Second half of the 6th century AH / second half of the 12th century AD
Notes
This lintel, which is slightly damaged, was carved in the lower part of its right side with an inscription interspersed with an architectural field decorated with floral ornamental filling. The inscription reproduces a Qur’anic text consisting of the beginning of the forty-seventh verse of Surah 15, “Al-Hijr,” which gives rise to the assumption that the source of this lintel may have been a religious building. The tails of Kufic letters, with sharp angles at their tops, expand to become slanted and concave. While the letters Noun and Ha alone end with a simple twisting movement that mimics the elegant appearance of a twisted goose neck. As for the lowercase letters, such as the dal and the waw, they are surmounted by decorative elements consisting of continuous letter tails that have slanted and concave borders. All the letters were carved in the form of a complete figure, and were surrounded by a hollow line, which widened their edge. It seems that the ground covered with floral decorations, on which the writing appears, played a secondary role to the letters, as the correspondence between the movement of the stem and the number of floral elements and their appearance is observed with the height of the tails of the letters and with their spacing and drawing. This broad, simple, carved decoration with a hollow ground made use of the wide plant stem and the single palm leaf in all its forms. The latter becomes arched at the base in the form of a circular ring, and in the form of a triangular arch or in the shape of a fan. The smooth, symmetrical palm leaf was also used, consisting of lower lobes with serrated edges that are connected to the floral decoration. All the lobes of these different styles of floral decoration have outer edges cut into small arcs that appear to be a simplification of the branches of the acanthus leaves. The simplicity and elegance of the Kufic letters and the severity and simplification of the vegetal forms used in the decoration of this lintel are distinctive features of the Almohad aesthetic, with which this work seems to be linked.
Sample Text
Naima El Khatib-Boujibar “Part of a lintel” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;ma;Mus01_C;9;ar
