Name of Object:

Plaster graffito

Location:

Tunis, Tunisia

Holding Museum:

Bardo Museum

Date of Object:

Hegira, second half of the 4th–first half of the 5th centuries / AD 10th–11th centuries

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Incised stucco.

Dimensions:

Length 30 cm, width 29 cm, thickness 3 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Fatimid–Zirid

Provenance:

Sabra al-Mansuriyya (Kairouan).

Description:

This is an engraving of a stylised horse of majestic demeanour. A rider holds the reins with his left hand and seems to be about to mount. The carefully drawn animal is seen depicted in profile. Its mane is indicated with a few short lines projecting from the neck. The left back leg is slightly raised and the left forearm and cannon-bone are elevated to form an inverted V-shape. The fetlock and hoof have been completely effaced.
The rider is sketchily drawn and very faint. The artist seems to have drawn a man whose torso is set frontally whereas the right leg and the head are in profile. He wears a turban and his face is covered. The horse is typically Arab distinguished by the shape of its head and the gracefulness of its neck and legs. This drawing is unique in Ifriqiyan art. The overall posture of the horse is similar to an image on an Umayyad caliph's goblet from Madinat Elvira in Spain.

View Short Description

This is a hand-carved engraving of a majestic Arab horse, whose rider is barely visible, and is a drawing unique in Ifriqiyan art. The carefully drawn animal is seen in profile, with its mane rendered using oblique and radiating strokes.

How date and origin were established:

This piece comes from the excavations at Sabra al-Mansuriyya, a place which survived for around a century (from 337 to 444 / 948 to 1053). This allows us to date it from the second half of the 4th / 10th century to the first half of the 5th / 11th century. No more precise dating is possible owing to the lack of published information from the excavations but the object's similarity to the Umayyad goblet (mid-4th / 10th century) suggests that we can limit the period to the end of the 4th / 10th century.

How Object was obtained:

After the discovery of this piece in the Sabra al-Mansuriyya excavations between 1952 and 1956, it was stored and later displayed at the Bardo Museum.

How provenance was established:

Excavated object.

Selected bibliography:

De Carthage à Kairouan (exhibition catalogue), Paris, 1982, p.221.
Zbiss, S. M., Actes du 79e congrès national des sociétés savantes, Algiers, 1954, p.302.

Citation of this web page:

Mourad Rammah "Plaster graffito" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;tn;Mus01_A;37;en

Prepared by: Mourad RammahMourad Rammah

Né en 1953 à Kairouan, docteur en archéologie islamique, Mourad Rammah est le conservateur de la médina de Kairouan. Lauréat du prix Agha Khan d'architecture, il publie divers articles sur l'histoire de l'archéologie médiévale islamique en Tunisie et participe à différentes expositions sur l'architecture islamique. De 1982 à 1994, il est en charge du département de muséographie du Centre des arts et des civilisations islamiques. Mourad Rammah est également directeur du Centre des manuscrits de Kairouan.

Copyedited by: Margot Cortez
Translation by: David Ash
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: TN 60

RELATED CONTENT

Related monuments

 Artistic Introduction

 Timeline for this item

Islamic Dynasties / Period

Fatimids

Zirids


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