Door lintel
Madaba, Jordan
Madaba Archaeological Museum
Hegira 2nd century / AD 8th century
M. 4977
Carved limestone.
Height 63 cm, Length 2.30 m
Umayyad
Umm al-Walid, Jordan.
A lintel that once adorned the top of a doorway of an Umayyad palace at Umm al-Walid. Worked in shallow stucco relief, this rare object appears to be more one-dimensional like a painting, than a two-dimensional work in relief. The scene depicts a panther chasing a gazelle, a reminder of the wild animals that once roamed the countryside during the Umayyad period, creatures that were game to courtly hunts organised for amusement.
View Short DescriptionA lintel that once adorned the top of a doorway of an Umayyad palace at Umm al-Walid. Worked in shallow stucco relief, the scene depicts a panther chasing a gazelle, a reminder of the wild animals that once roamed the countryside during the Umayyad period.
The building is dated to the Umayyad period on archaeological grounds. The plan of the palace, together with the pottery and metal objects found on the site, indicate that the palace was built in the Umayyad period.
The object was obtained in 1996 during archaeological excavations at Umm al-Walid, which lies 15 km south-east of Madaba, where a mosque was also uncovered.
The provenance is known because the lintel was uncovered on site during an archaeological excavation.
Bujard, J., “Umm al-Walid et Khan Ez-Zabib : Cinq Qusur omeyyades et leur mosquée revisités”, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, XLI, 1997, pp.351–74.
Aida Naghawy "Door lintel" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;jo;Mus01_A;11;en
Prepared by: Aida NaghawyAida Naghawy
Aida Naghawy is an archaeologist and the Director of Jordan Archaeological Museum. She studied archaeology at the University of Jordan where she gained her MA. She was affiliated to the Jordanian Department of Antiquities from 1974 as a curator of Jordan Archaeological Museum. In 1981 she became inspector of Jerash antiquities and co-ordinator of the Jerash International Rehabilitation project. She was also head of the archaeological awareness section at the Department of Antiquities. Aida is the author of numerous publications on Islamic coins. She has carried out excavation work in Jerash and is the founder of Jerash Archaeological Museum and the Islamic Museum of the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs.
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: JO 15
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