Stone & Stucco
LNS 3 HS
Rock crystal bottle, relief-carved on both faces with a stylised ‘tree of life’ bearing half palmettes
Stone and stucco have a long history in the art and cultures that became the Islamic world. Even as far back as the Bronze Age, stone was used to create almost reverential objects of sacred animals, demons and gods/goddesses.
Stone and stucco remained the chosen media for an important and characteristic Islamic architectural element: carved and pierced window screening panels which allowed ventilation while providing privacy and shade to the interior. From early Islamic times these were executed in both materials and were employed in religious and secular buildings. Stucco techniques were highly developed and widely used to embellish interiors as well as these window grilles.
Islamic masons inherited a tradition of carving stone for decorating the exteriors and interiors of buildings from the ancient world, and the palaces of the first Islamic dynasty, the Umayyad Caliphs, were enhanced by richly carved vegetal and abstract motifs. Arabic calligraphy soon became one of the most important elements of architectural decoration. Beautiful examples of calligraphy on tombstones provide us with important fixed chronologies for the development of a variety of calligraphic styles.
In the Mughal era stone predominated, and many large and beautiful screens were produced. White marble panels inlaid with semi-precious stones and other coloured materials were also created during in India during that period.
Rock crystal bottle, relief-carved on both faces with a stylised ‘tree of life’ bearing half palmettes
Rock crystal bottle, relief-carved with good wishes to the owner in Kufic script. The bottle probably served as a reliquary and was fitted in the
Rock crystal chess pieces from two different sets, relief-carved with palmettes and half-palmettes (a, h, and i from one set; and d, e, and g
Marble capital carved in a form derived from the Corinthian order, with an inscription in Kufic script giving the name of the stone carver (Shukr
Limestone niche from the Audience Hall of the Citadel Complex of Amman, probably built during the reign of the Umayyad Caliph Hisham bn Abd al-Malik,
Pierced sandstone screen (jali) featuring a pattern of six-pointed stars (equilateral triangle plan of repetition) and other polygonal shapes, generated by dodecagons overlapping at the
Marble fountain basin with Indian-style rosettes in the corners and featuring at the centre a hemispherical boss carved with a ‘pattern’ comprised of an eight-pointed
Two stucco ten-pointed star tiles, one with a representation of a leogryph, the other with an elephant carrying a rabbit with its trunk, both on
Two stucco ten-pointed star tiles, one with a representation of a leogryph, the other with an elephant carrying a rabbit with its trunk, both on
Stucco architectural panel (from a dado), with a section from the infinite pattern of regular six-pointed stars and hexagons (equilateral triangle plan of repetition), with
Marble tombstone with Kufic inscription giving the name and patronymics of the lady Umm al-Futuh bint al-Qa’id Lu’lu’, and the month of Sha‘ban 547 AH/November
Marble architectural panel featuring a fragmentary elaborate and mannered ‘archaizing’ Kufic inscription with ‘the great, the noble’, perhaps part of the foundation inscription of a
Sandstone architectural crenellation element of foliate form, relief-carved with a bilaterally symmetrical foliate composition issuing from a half-rosette, and two roundels with the word ‘Allah’
Schist cenotaph of Prince Shams al-Milla wa ‘d-Din Muhammad, son of Nizam ad-Din Wali Beg, with inscriptions in thuluth (Persian and Arabic) and Kufic (Arabic)
Limestone tombstone in the form of an architectural niche with muqarnas squinches and inscriptions in naskhi script (the inner rectangular frame with Chapter 112 of
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