This carved panel, is ornamented with a bird and an ibex, surrounded by arabesques. While earlier forms of Egyptian wood-work emphasized abstract vegetal designs as a primary motif, in this piece naturalistic animal forms dominate the carving. At top a bird puffs its chest and spreads its wings, while at bottom an ibex leans his head back in mid-stride. Their bodies are further ornamented with carvings to indicating feather and fur patterns. Similar animal forms depicted within cartouches can be found ornamenting many objects produced in the Mediterranean area during the medieval period, including ivories, textiles, and metalwork
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Artwork Details
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Title:Panel
Date:10th–12th century
Geography:Attributed to Egypt
Medium:Wood (ebony); carved
Dimensions:H. 13 11/16 in. (34.8 cm) W. 7 in. (17.8 cm)
Classification:Wood
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1933
Accession Number:33.157.3
Panel
Despite the perishable nature of wood and its relative scarcity in much of the Islamic world, there is an abundance of woodwork surviving. The most complete historical sequence available is from Egypt where the dry climate has preserved not only the largest number of surviving pieces, but also the earliest. This piece can find parallels in a large number of other panels from Fatimid Egypt which must once have been parts of chests or various decorative architectural ensembles. The combination of a bird and an ibex emerging from vine scrolls is also characteristic of the type of designs that were prevalent in the period and that can be encountered in wood, ivory, ceramics, glass, rock crystal, etc. The Fatimid Caliphs were responsible for one of the most brilliant eras of Islamic art and the products of their reign are distinguished by finesse and sublety of detail, by a dynamic realism in the representation of figures, and by an overall complexity of secondary motifs like interlacings. The deeply undercut forms of panels such as this create a graphic sense of contrast between light and dark. The ibex, its neck marked by striations resembling a collar, its body engraved with abstract leaf-like patterns, is a common theme of Fatimid wood and ivory carvings. This animal is not indigenous to Egypt, so it is believed that its image was taken from objects such as textiles, bronzes, or ceramics imported from Iran or Mesopotamia. A generic type of bird is another familiar figure of the Fatimid reportoire, often depicted as here with its wings outstretched and its body hatched to resemble plumage, a convention also seen on birds and animals executed in ivory.
Annie Christine Daskalakis-Matthews in [Walker et al. 1994]
[ Maurice Nahman, Cairo, until 1933; sold to MMA]
Mexico City. Colegio de San Ildefonso. "Arte Islámico del Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York," September 30, 1994–January 8, 1995, no. 28.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Daniel S. Walker, Arturo Ponce Guadián, Sussan Babaie, Stefano Carboni, Aimee Froom, Marie Lukens Swietochowski, Tomoko Masuya, Annie Christine Daskalakis-Matthews, Abdallah Kahil, and Rochelle Kessler. "Colegio de San Ildefonso, Septiembre de 1994–Enero de 1995." In Arte Islámico del Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York. Mexico City: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, 1994. no. 28, pp. 100–1, ill. (b/w).
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The Met's collection of Islamic art is one of the most comprehensive in the world and ranges in date from the seventh to the twenty-first century. Its more than 15,000 objects reflect the great diversity and range of the cultural traditions from Spain to Indonesia.
