Name of Object:

Door lintel

Location:

Amman, Jordan

Holding Museum:

Jordan Archaeological Museum

About Jordan Archaeological Museum, Amman

Date of Object:

Hegira 2nd century / AD 8th century

Museum Inventory Number:

J.1950

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Carved limestone.

Dimensions:

Height 44 cm, length 2.18 m, depth 42.5 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Umayyad

Provenance:

Qasr al-Tuba, Jordan.

Description:

A door lintel, decorated with a very deep, undercut floral pattern comprising a central rosette flanked by intertwined foliage, scrolls filled with palmettes, pines and grapes, all arranged in a panel surrounded by pearling.

This type of floral pattern was very common during the Umayyad period and is seen throughout the decorative arts. Similar carved patterns adorned the Qasr al-Mushatta (now at the Pergamon Museum, Berlin).

The function of this lintel is purely aesthetic; it would reside on the upper part of a decorated doorway.

Door lintel from Qasr al-Tuba bearing a very deep, undercut floral pattern with a central rosette that was common during the Umayyad period and is seen throughout the decorative arts. Such elaborate lintels would have been positioned on the upper parts of decorated doorways.

How date and origin were established:

The lintel was a part of a building, dated approximately to the 2nd / 8th century; the date has also been established through historical inferences.

How Object was obtained:

According to the Museum inventory number, the lintel was transferred from Qasr al-Tuba to the Museum during the 1950s by the Department of Antiquities of Jordan.

How provenance was established:

The provenance is known because this door lintel was found on the site of Qasr al-Tuba.

Selected bibliography:

Creswell, K. A. C., Early Muslim Architecture, Vol. I, Oxford, 1932, p.376, plate 80/A.

Citation of this web page:

Aida Naghawy "Door lintel" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;jo;Mus01;10;en

Prepared by: Aida NaghawyAida Naghawy

Aida Naghawy is an archaeologist and the Director of Jordan Archaeological Museum. She studied archaeology at the University of Jordan where she gained her MA. She was affiliated to the Jordanian Department of Antiquities from 1974 as a curator of Jordan Archaeological Museum. In 1981 she became inspector of Jerash antiquities and co-ordinator of the Jerash International Rehabilitation project. She was also head of the archaeological awareness section at the Department of Antiquities. Aida is the author of numerous publications on Islamic coins. She has carried out excavation work in Jerash and is the founder of Jerash Archaeological Museum and the Islamic Museum of the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs.
Copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: JO 13