Publication Date
109 / 727
Publication Place
-
The National Museum in Damascus
Subject
Drawing on hard, dry plaster mortar.
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
الطول: 5 م ؛ العرض: 4.85 م
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID
QHG
Record ID
object;ISL;sy;Mus01;2;ar
Library Location
The National Museum in Damascus
Date
109 / 727
Notes
In the Umayyad palaces there was a clear influence on previous arts, whether Byzantine arts in the West or Sassanid (Iranian) arts in the East. This painting represents the influence of Eastern Persian art and mythology. The painting covered the floor of the reception hall in the eastern wing of Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi, located 80 km southwest of the city of Palmyra. In the upper section of the painting, two figures from the palace courtyard appear standing under decorated arches and playing two musical instruments: the flute and the oud. As for the lower part of the painting, it shows a shaven knight pulling his bow and rushing over his horse, with a scarf flying behind him and in front of him a running gazelle, turning backwards. Perhaps this scene was based on a Persian epic (Bahram Gur on the Hunt). Some scholars explain Caliph Hisham bin Abd al-Malik’s choice of this purely Persian scene as a reflection of his changing direction of view from the West to the East, especially after the failure of attempts to conquer Constantinople and his taking of the traditions of the Sassanian Empire as an example of the language of power. It is noted in the upper section of the painting and in the middle the traces of the circular column that stood above it.
Sample Text
Mona al-Moadin “Secco Painting” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;sy;Mus01;2;ar
