Matthew Thomas
Senior Specialist
Lot 36
A rare double-sided carved wood Screen probably Ayyubid Egypt, 13th Century
21 April 2015, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street£7,000 - £9,000
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A rare double-sided carved wood Screen
probably Ayyubid Egypt, 13th Century
probably Ayyubid Egypt, 13th Century
comprising eight rectangular openwork panels, relief-carved forming an overall design of palmettes and arabesques within a scroll border, framed together
96 x 50 cm.
96 x 50 cm.
Footnotes
Medieval woodwork from Egypt rarely appears on the art market since the majority of surviving pieces remain in mosques, Coptic churches or the Museum of Islamic Art. As both a scarce and perishable material, very little has survived compared to more durable materials such as stone carving.
This screen is virtually identical to another example sold at Sotheby's London (Sotheby's, Arts of the Islamic World, 9th April 2008, lot 86), which was attributed to Fatimid Egypt, 11th Century. Certainly motifs that appear on this screen can be paralleled with decoration of the Fatimid period, but it is more likely that it is a little later in date.