Publication Date
4th century - beginning of the 5th century AH / 10th century - beginning of the 11th century AD
Publication Place
-
Museum of Islamic Arts; sluggishness Kairouan
Subject
Cast bronze.
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
الارتفاع:31 سم؛ السماكة 1 سم
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID
BZ 22
Record ID
object;ISL;tn;Mus01;14;ar
Library Location
Museum of Islamic Arts; sluggishness Kairouan
Date
4th century - beginning of the 5th century AH / 10th century - beginning of the 11th century AD
Notes
This chandelier belongs to a group of eight chandeliers or candelabra found in the Great Mosque of Kairouan, which are today dispersed among four Tunisian museums: Raqqada, Bardo, Mahdia and Monastir. This chandelier consists of a cut and cast bronze disc capable of holding six lamps. It emerges from a circular ring with eighteen bars of equal dimensions and the same measurements, all decorated with two large floral decorations. The decorative element of the abstract vine leaf was very much used in African (Tunisian) art in the 3rd - 5th centuries AH / 9th - 10th centuries AD, mainly in the mihrab, pulpit and maqsora of the Great Mosque of Kairouan. Nine of the eighteen bars mentioned above end in circular rings, alternating with the other nine bars crowned by heart-shaped lobes. This decorative element, which was widespread on the covers of Kairouanian bound books, is found in a somewhat simplified form on a number of sculptures from the Fatimid period. On the other hand, the central chandelier ring is surrounded by eighteen horseshoe-shaped arches connecting the bars. The whole group forms a flower decorated with floral braids, and the disc supports three chains suspended from three rings. The style of the Kairouan chandeliers was undoubtedly subject to the influence of similar Byzantine models, which continued to be made during the Islamic era, mainly in the Mediterranean region. The genius of the Muslim craftsman was brilliantly demonstrated by replacing the Christian cross in the Byzantine and Coptic chandeliers with a decoration in the form of a three-lobed rose and with some abstract decorative elements conforming to the principles of the Islamic faith. Miniature models similar to the chandeliers found in Kairouan were found in Egypt, Syria and Spain in particular. The similarity with the model found in Spain makes it possible to point out the possibility of the existence of a coppersmithing school specific to the Islamic Maghreb region. We must note that this technique was apparently transferred to Christian Spain, as evidenced by a church chandelier preserved in the British Museum.
Sample Text
Mourad Rammah "Soraya" in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;tn;Mus01;14;ar
