Fig. 363.—Arabian Cursive Writing, from the Alhambra.
Some of the finest specimens of purely Saracenic ornament are found on the singularly ornate mimbars or pulpits (Figs. 354 and 364). The simplicity of their straight-lined silhouettes is in restrained contrast to the extreme elaboration of their carved surfaces. The stone pulpit from the mosque of Barkuk is early fifteenth century work. It is made of solid stone slabs, with doorway, staircase, and canopy raised on small pillars and surmounted by the usual pear-shaped cupola. The stone slabs are elaborately carved with geometrical patterns, arabesques, and inscriptions, and are said to be the finest examples of stone carving in Cairo. Another pulpit (Fig. 354) of the fifteenth century, made by order of the Sultan Kāit Bey, is built in wood; it is now in the South Kensington Museum, and bears the name of this Mamlūk Sultan, who was the ruler of Egypt at the end of that century. The folding doors and the niche of this pulpit are decorated with stalactite ornament; the cupola is copper; the carving is most elaborate, and is also inlaid with ebony and ivory. Some of the carved panels from the building known as the wekāla or khan of Kāit Bey, show Saracenic ornament in its purest form—both the geometrical variety and arabesques. This Sultan and his artists have shown the most refined taste of all the great Saracen builders. The wekāla or khan is a rectangular building with an open court in the centre, and consists of numerous chambers that were occupied by merchants for a short season when they came to buy and sell in Cairo, and was, in fact, a sort of Eastern hotel.
Fig. 364.—Stone Pulpit in Mosque of Barkuk; Fifteenth Century.
The stabling was placed behind on the ground floor, and the exterior consisted of a row of small shops. The wekāla of Kāit Bey had thirteen of these shops on one exterior, and between the seventh and eighth was placed a splendid arched gateway. It is a pointed arch of eight feet in width, the edge of which is decorated with three tiers of stalactites that are carved on the sides of the archway, and has a fine band of carved scroll-work running round the face of the archway and spandrels. One of the most beautiful examples of alternating interlacing and arabesque ornament is that which forms an arch over a horizontal panel of carved ornament. This arch is shown at Fig. 365. A fine characteristic piece of carved ornament from the same building is the subject of the illustration Fig. [341].
Figure and animal representation, though prohibited by the Moslem religion, was in many cases practised by the Saracen sculptors; for instance, in the Baptistery of St. Louis is a large copper bowl inlaid with silver figures (Mōsil work) made at Mōsil in the thirteenth century. These figure and animal designs are from Mesopotamian sources, as may easily be seen in the examples given—from the Marīstan of Kalaun (Figs. 366 and 367), where on the last a centaur is shooting an arrow at a unicorn, balanced by a similar animal on the opposite side; and on the other example is a peacock in the centre, with figures of men on either side having drinking vessels and musical instruments, an evident representation of a concert and dances.
Fig. 365.—Ornament on an Arch of the Wekāla Kāit Bey. (L.-P.)
The scroll borders around this panel, and the execution of the work, are in the Saracenic manner, but the motives of the designs are Persian. Other similar carvings in which animals figure and birds are introduced are to be seen in the same building, and are of late thirteenth century work. These illustrations are taken from Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole’s “Saracenic Art in Egypt,” after “Prisse d’Avennes,” to which the student is referred for an exhaustive account of the Saracen art in Egypt. We extract the following summary of this art from the above author, who quotes from Franz Pasha, the architect to the Government of the Khedive. “While bestowing their full meed of praise on the wonderfully rich ornamentation and other details of Arabian architecture, one cannot help feeling that the style fails to give entire æsthetic satisfaction; want of symmetry of plan, poverty of articulation, insufficiency of plastic decoration, and an incongruous mingling of wood and stone are the imperfections which strike most Northern critics. The architects, in fact, bestowed the whole of their attention on the decoration of surfaces; and down to the present day the Arabian artists have always displayed far greater ability in designing the most complicated ornament and geometrical figures on plane surfaces than in the treatment and proportioning of masses. Although we occasionally see difficulties of construction well overcome ... these instances seem rather to be successful experiments than the result of scientific workmanship. The real excellence of the Arabian architects lay in their skill in masking abrupt angles by the use of stalactites, or brackets,” &c.
