Name of Object:

Basin

Location:

Fez, Morocco

Holding Museum:

Batha Museum

Original Owner:

Habus (endowment)

Date of Object:

Hegira 751–7 / AD 1351–6

Museum Inventory Number:

A 25

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Sculpted and engraved white marble.

Dimensions:

Height 41.6 cm, shaft height 21.5 cm, basin diameter 35 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Marinid

Provenance:

Buinaniya Madrasa, Fez.

Description:

This small basin consists of three elements: a socle (plinth) with a sculpted shaft and a basin fixed to the socle. The socle is divided into two, acting as a base and a shaft. The cubic base is crowned with a step moulding. The lower part of the cylindrical shaft, which widens at the top, is sculpted with two toruses like the base of a column. This section is followed by a smooth surface engraved with four rows of superposed arches crowned with gadroons sculpted in low relief. The upper part, which narrows towards the top, is engraved with two horizontal grooves.
The hemispheric basin has deep flutes hollowed out of the inside and a circular aperture at its centre for the provision of water. It is sculpted on the outside with gadroons in high relief.
This small font, designed in the image of the large basins that stand in the centre of the courtyards of sanctuaries and madrasas, was found in the ablutions room of the Buinaniya.

This small ablutions room font was designed in the image of the great basins that stood in the centre of sanctuary courtyards. The outside of the bowl is decorated with regular gadroons in high relief, and the inside with flutes.

How date and origin were established:

From the date of construction of the Buinaniya, where the basin came from.

How Object was obtained:

Salvaged during the restoration of the monument.

How provenance was established:

Salvaged in situ.

Selected bibliography:

Cambazard-Amahan, C., Le décor sur bois dans l'architecture de Fès, Paris, 1989.
Marçais, G., L'architecture musulmane d'Occident, Paris, 1954.
Terrasse, Ch., Médersas du Maroc, Paris, 1927.
Terrasse, H. and Hainaut, J., Les arts décoratifs au Maroc, Paris, 1925.
Andalusian Morocco: A Discovery in Living Art, pp.124–6.

Citation of this web page:

Naima El Khatib-Boujibar "Basin" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;ma;Mus01_C;40;en

Prepared by: Naima El Khatib-BoujibarNaima El Khatib-Boujibar

Archéologue et historienne de l'art, titulaire d'une licence en lettres (française), N. Elkhatib-Boujibar a également étudié l'archéologie et l'histoire de l'art à l'Institut d'art et d'archéologie de Paris, l'art islamique et la muséologie à l'École du Louvre (Paris), et suivi des cours à l'Institut d'ethnographie de l'Université de Neuchâtel (Suisse). Elle a occupé plusieurs postes de responsabilité, parmi lesquels directrice des Musées et de l'Archéologie, inspectrice générale des Musées et de l'Archéologie, déléguée régionale du ministère de la Culture.
Elle a dirigé un chantier de fouille durant 20 ans et enseigné à l'Institut national marocain des sciences de l'archéologie et du patrimoine (INSAP). Elle a organisé différentes expositions sur le patrimoine marocain, au Maroc comme à l'étranger, et animé des cycles de conférence, dont celui sur l'art islamique à la “Villa des Arts” à Casablanca.
N. El Khatib-Boujibar a publié différents articles sur le patrimoine archéologique, artistique et architectural marocain, mais aussi sur d'autres sites islamiques et sur les arts mobiliers. Elle a également participé à la rédaction du catalogue Musée Sans Frontières Le Maroc andalou, à la rencontre d'un art de vivre.
Copyedited by: Margot Cortez
Translation by: Laurence Nunny
Translation copyedited by: Monica Allen

MWNF Working Number: MO 61