Name of Object:

Metal grille/enclosure

Location:

Jerusalem

Holding Museum:

Islamic Museum, al-Aqsa Mosque / al-Haram al-Sharif

About Islamic Museum, al-Aqsa Mosque / al-Haram al-Sharif, Jerusalem

Original Owner:

Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem

Date of Object:

Hegira 6th century / AD 12th century

Museum Inventory Number:

29،30/3

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Forged iron fastened with rods.

Dimensions:

Height 230 cm, length 570, width: 30 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Crusader

Provenance:

Probably Jerusalem.

Description:

An iron grille or enclosure, of which the Museum displays 19 segments held together by the use of fine iron rods. The grille has been worked in the Gothic style, a style that predominated in the AH 6th / AD 12th century in Crusader art and architecture. This enclosure surrounded the rock which is located within the Dome of the Rock and from which the Prophet Muhammad ascended to the heavens on the night of the Mi'raj.The enclosure was intended to protect the rock from European Christian pilgrims during the Crusader period who would take pieces of the rock back to their homeland either in the hope that they would be blessed by it or, due to the sacred nature of the rock, to imbed within church buildings. The rock was thus in danger of losing its natural shape and required protection. The enclosure, already in a delicate state of repair during the restoration works which took place around 1960, was replaced by a wooden balustrade worked in the Islamic carved-wood style. The iron grille was then put into storage at the Islamic Museum, but many pieces were lost in the interim.
The grille is composed of segments that are identical in both width and height, except for the central four segments which are 257 cm high. Between each pair of rods are 21 repetitive decorative units, each one of which grows out of a small semi-circle of iron wire to become a flower. The flowers wrap around three times in a circular fashion extending from the centre, and face an identical blossom whose circles have been formed by wire coils spiralling in the opposite direction. The two flowers are connected together by a wire stay. This arrangement repeats itself to form the entire decorative format of the enclosure. It should be noted that a similar, small piece of a grille is still in the Dome of the Rock.

View Short Description

This is an iron enclosure or grille formed from pieces of approximately equal size and similar repetitive decoration, joined by small intricate iron bands. It is in Gothic style, which predominated in the art and architecture of the Crusaders in Palestine. This enclosure surrounded the rock placed within the Dome of the Rock for its protection.

How date and origin were established:

This piece was dated by comparison in both technique and decoration with those used in other pieces that go back to the Crusader period, such as the pair of candlesticks housed in the Islamic Museum in Jerusalem.

How Object was obtained:

The piece was transferred from the Dome of the Rock to the Islamic Museum in about 1960.

How provenance was established:

It is probable that this piece was produced in Jerusalem where, as is generally the case with architectural furniture, it was made in situ.

Selected bibliography:

Hunt, L. A., “Crusader Sculpture and the so-called Templar Workshop: A Reassessment of Two Carved Panels from the Dome of the Rock in Al-Haram al-Sharif Museum in Jerusalem”, in Palestine Exploration Quarterly, No. 132, 2000.
Jacoby, Z., “The Workshop of the Temple Area in Jerusalem in the Twelfth Century: Its Origin, Evolution, and Impact”, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte,No. 45, 1982.
Jacoby, Z., “The Provencial Impact on Crusader Sculpture in Jerusalem: More Evidence on the Temple Area Atelier”, in Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, No. 48, 1985.

Citation of this web page:

Nazmi Al-Ju'beh "Metal grille/enclosure" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;pa;Mus01;12;en

Prepared by: Nazmi Al-Ju'behNazmi Al-Ju'beh

Nazmi Al-Ju'beh is an archaeologist and historian and Co-Director of RIWAQ, Centre for Architectural Conservation in Ramallah, Palestine. He studied at Birzeit University in Palestine and at Tübingen University in Germany. He taught at Birzeit University and at al-Quds University. He was Director of the Islamic Museum, al-Haram al-Sharif, Jerusalem, and directed various cultural heritage projects in Palestine, including surveys of archaeological and architectural sites. He was a major contributor to Pilgrimage, Sciences and Sufism: Islamic Art in the West Bank and Gaza (Vienna: MWNF, 2004) and is the author of numerous publications on the history, archaeology and cultural heritage of Palestine.

Copyedited by: Majd Musa
Translation by: Amal Sachedina (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: PA 12

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