EPIGRAPHIC FRIEZE, ENGRAVED AND CARVED WOOD, GILDED AND POLY - Lot 65

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Lot n° 65
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Estimation :
3000 - 5000 EUR
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EPIGRAPHIC FRIEZE, ENGRAVED AND CARVED WOOD, GILDED AND POLY - Lot 65
EPIGRAPHIC FRIEZE, ENGRAVED AND CARVED WOOD, GILDED AND POLYCHROMATICALLY PAINTED (TRACES), NORTH AFRICA, 15th–16th CENTURY. Mounted on a metal base (upside down). The gilding and polychrome paint have almost entirely disappeared; traces of polychrome paint remain. Height: 26 cm; Width: 140 cm; Thickness: 4 cm. Radiocarbon analysis of the wood confirms a date between 1442 and 1630 (95.4% probability), with a 65.4% probability for the interval 1442–1524. This wooden panel features an inscription in Maghreb Thuluth script with slender vertical stems, set against a scrollwork background composed of bifid palmettes and flowered palmettes. The upper portion is highlighted by a frieze adorned with four-petaled rosettes. The entire decoration is carved in champlevé and retains traces of polychromy, notably remnants of red and gold paint. On the reverse, adze marks are still visible, attesting to the woodworking process. A first cartouche, partially preserved, displays within a polylobed arch the end of the epigraphic word yumn (“bliss”). The second cartouche contains the following invocation: Yā thiqatī yā amalī, anta al-rajā, anta al-walī, ukhtim… (“O my trust, O my hope; you are the hope, you are the Protector, complete [my work for the good]”). This spiritual supplication, calling for divine protection, is attested in the Kitāb Baḥr al-dumūʿ (“ The Ocean of Tears”) by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Jawzī (1116–1201), a scholar from Baghdad during the Abbasid period. The invocation appears to have enjoyed some popularity in the epigraphy of al-Andalus and the Maghreb: it is attested in carved friezes at the Alhambra in Granada and the Alcázar in Seville (see Julie Marquer, “Torrijos and the Tradition of Arabic Epigraphy in Castilian Architecture,” 2023), as well as in an inscription at the al-Mashwar Mosque in Tlemcen (14th century) (see Muhammad Khalidi, The Aesthetics of Islamic Decoration in the Mosques of Tlemcen: The Zianid Period as a Case Study, doctoral dissertation, Abou Bekr Belkaid University, Tlemcen, pp. 92–93). In the absence of a comprehensive inventory of inscriptions on wood, it remains difficult to determine whether the use of this invocation was specific to certain architectural contexts. Nevertheless, based on its stylistic characteristics, the frieze resembles the wooden epigraphic bands used in monuments built or restored by the Merinid and later Saadian sultans, featuring inscriptions with varied content: dates, occasional verses, and religious quotations (Qur’an, eulogies, Burda). Among the most famous examples are the pavilions housing the fountains of the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque in Fez, restored in the 16th century during the reigns of Sultans al-Manṣūr al-Dhahabī and ʿAbd Allāh al-Shaykh. Several Saadian fountains in Marrakesh, such as the fountain known as “Shrub wa Shuf,” also bear poetic inscriptions on wood in a comparable style. Other similar friezes have been exhibited; one, older and attributed to the Merinid dynasty, is dated 747/1347 and is believed to have come from a madrasa in Ceuta; a second one, possibly contemporary with this frieze, is housed in the Kasbah Museum in Tangier (see frieze inv. 58.8.108, partially published in *From the Roman Empire to the Imperial Cities: 6,000 Years of Art in Morocco*, 1990, no. 430).
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