Fragment of a painted wooden panel
Damascus, Syria
National Museum of Damascus
About National Museum of Damascus, Damascus
Hegira 218–27 / AD 833–42
ع 16063
Painted wood.
Length 52.2 cm, width 11.1 cm
Abbasid
Raqqa region, Syria.
In Palace B in the Raqqa region, we find a group of applied ornamental techniques executed in various materials. These include the use of plaster frames for doors and windows as well as wooden panels to cover walls and ceilings of formal imperial halls. Similar forms and techniques existed in the Umayyad period and may be found in Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi. This indicates a continuation of this type of palatial decoration between the Umayyad and Abbasid periods.
This rectangular fragment from a painted wooden panel is decorated with stylised floral and vegetal motifs bracketed by geometric designs. The decoration is executed in black, red, yellow and brown applied in gradual shades to make the drawings seem three-dimensional.
A painted wooden panel that once decorated the reception hall of an 'Abbasid palace in Raqqa reveals a high degree of expertise in three-dimensional shading of floral motifs.
Caliph al-Mu'tasim Billah (r. AH 218–27 / AD 833–42)
The object was found in Palace B in the Raqqa region. An inscription on plaster was found on one of the walls of the palace associating it with the Abbasid Caliph al-Mu'tasim Billah (r. 218–27/ 833–42). The palace is thought to have been built in around 220 (835).
The object was recovered during archaeological excavations carried out in 1952 by the Syrian General Directorate of Antiquities under the direction of Nasib Salibi.
This piece of architectural ornamentation was found in palace B in the Raqqa region and was probably made in situ.
Abu al-Faraj al-Ush, M., A Concise Guide to the National Museum of Damascus,
Damascus, 1969, p.158.
Andalucia, J., de- (ed), El esplendor de los Omeyas cordobeses, exhibition
catalogue, Granada, 2001.
Daiber, V., and Becker A., Raqqa III, Mainz, 2004.
Kohlmeyer, K. (ed), Land des Baal, Mainz, 1982.
Mona al-Moadin "Fragment of a painted wooden panel" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2019. http://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;sy;Mus01;13;en
Prepared by: Mona Al-Moadin
Translation by: Hilary Kalmbach (from the Arabic)
Translation copyedited by: Mandi Gomez
MWNF Working Number: SY 19
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