This item has been added to the Database within the Explore Islamic Art Collections project. Information is available in: English, Arabic.

Name of Object:

Balastrade

Location:

Los Angeles, United States of America

Holding Museum:

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)

About Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles

Date of Object:

Hegira early 8th century / AD early 14th century

Museum Inventory Number:

M.73.5.5

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Limestone; carved

Dimensions:

66.68cm

Period / Dynasty:

Seljuq

Provenance:

Iran

Description:

This elaborately carved stone probably was once part of a staircase railing or balustrade in a multistory building. It is one of perhaps one dozen such architectural elements preserved in museums in the United States and Europe, one of which is inscribed with the date Hegira 703/AD 1303–4. As is typical of this closely related group, a lion carved in relief on either side forms a pair when the stone slab is viewed head-on. On one face of the LACMA stone is a carved niche with a pair of columns supporting a muqarnas hood, while others in this group have depicted on their short front ends two-story kiosk-like structures, in both instances perhaps alluding to their original architectural contexts.

How date and origin were established:

A stone balustrade in the Metropolitan Museum dated Hegira 703 / AD 1303-4, is very similar in configuration, decoration and size, which along with a second similar slab in the Metropolitan Museum, was said to come from Hamadan, Iran.

How Object was obtained:

Collection of Nasli M. Heeramaneck (1902-1971), New York, until 1973 (sold to); LACMA, The Nasli M. Heeramaneck collection, gift of Joan Palevsky.

How provenance was established:

The LACMA balustrade belongs to a group of very similar architectural elements that have been ascribed to Iran.

Selected bibliography:

Komaroff, Linda, Lo Terrenal y lo Divino: Arte Islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Ángeles, Santiago: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015: 106.
Pal, Pratapaditya, Lentz, Thomas W., Canby, Sheila R., Binney, Edwin, 3rd, Denny, Walter B. and Markel, Stephen “Arts from Islamic Cultures: Los Angeles County Museum of Art,” Arts of Asia, 17 : 6 (1987): 94, figs. 33-35.
Pal, Pratapaditya (ed), Islamic Art: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 1973: 179, cat. no. 355.

Citation of this web page:

LACMA Staff "Balastrade" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;us;Mus21;44;en

Prepared by: LACMA Staff

MWNF Working Number: US1 44