Name of Object:

Floor painting

Location:

Damascus, Syria

Holding Museum:

National Museum of Damascus

About National Museum of Damascus, Damascus

Original Owner:

Caliph Hisham bin 'Abd al-Malik (r. AH 105–25 / AD 724–43)

Date of Object:

Hegira 109 / AD 727

Museum Inventory Number:

QHG

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Plaster, painted using the secco technique.

Dimensions:

Length 5 m, width 4.85 m

Period / Dynasty:

Umayyad

Provenance:

Syrian Desert; 80 km southwest of Palmyra.

Description:

The Umayyad desert palaces show clearly the influence of earlier artistic traditions – both from the Byzantine Empire in the West, and the Sassanid Empire in the East, what is now modern Iran. This painting shows the influence of the art and mythology of the Sassanids. It covered the floor of the reception room in the east wing of Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi.
The upper section shows two court minstrels playing musical instruments, a nai (a woodwind instrument) and an oud (a string instrument), beneath a pair of ornamented arches. The lower section portrays a clean-shaven hunter galloping on horseback. The hunter is dressed in Sassanid-style fashion; his head-scarf flying behind him, his bow and arrow are drawn tight for the catch. On the lower right-hand corner is a gazelle, running away while looking back. It is possible that this scene is based on a famous Persian epic, possibly Bahram Gur's Hunting Feats.
Some scholars have deduced that this fresco reflects a choice by the Caliph to re-orient his empire to look East instead of West especially after Muslim attempts to conquer Constantinople failed. Thus the Caliph chose to adopt the Sassanid imperial heritage as a model for the language of power.
This painting lay on the floor of the reception hall, and one can notice in its upper section traces of a round column that stood on top of it.

The iconographic traditions of courtly activity, such as the image of a prince galloping on horseback flaunting his hunting expertise, is derived from the pre-Islamic Sassanid Empire of Persia. It is here depicted on an Umayyad painting from the Syrian palace of Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi.

How date and origin were established:

The floor, along with the rest of the palace complex, was dated according to the inscribed door lintel of the khan adjoining the palace complex. The lintel carries the date 109 / 727, and indicates that the complex was built by Caliph Hisham bin 'Abd al-Malik.

How Object was obtained:

The floor painting was discovered during the 1936 French excavation of Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi, which was led by archaeologist Daniel Schlumberger. When the plaster façade from the front of Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi was prepared for relocation at the National Museum during the 1940s this floor painting was stabilised on the wall of the main room of the new Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi wing, formally inaugurated by the Museum in 1950.

How provenance was established:

This floor painting was produced on in situ at Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi.

Selected bibliography:

Abu al-Faraj al-Ush, M., A Concise Guide to the National Museum of Damascus, Damascus, 1969, pp.151–2.
Ettinghausen, R., Arab Painting, Lausanne, 1962, p.37.
Papadopoulo, A., Islam and Muslim Art, New York, 1979, p.387, fig. 179.
Schlumberger, D., “Deux fresques Omeyyades”, Syria, XXV, 1946–8, pp.86–102.
Schlumberger, D., Qasr el-Heir el-Gharbi, Paris, 1986, XIX, plate 34.

Citation of this web page:

Mona al-Moadin "Floor painting" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;sy;Mus01;2;en

Prepared by: Mona Al-Moadin
Translation by: Hilary Kalmbach (from the Arabic)
Translation 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: SY 02