{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O164658"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O164658/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O164658","accessionNumber":"1025-1884","objectType":"Column","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"The original column of which this is a cast is located at the corner of the facade of the Wikala (caravanserai) of Sultan Qa’itbay, near the  mosque of al-Azhar in Cairo, built in 1477. Plaster casts from a variety of historic  monuments across Cairo, especially those built during the reign of Sultan Qa’itbay  (r.1468-96), were made to decorate the ‘maison arabe’ of the French aristocrat, the  Comte Gaston de St Maurice (1831-1905), which was built for him between 1872  and 1879. \r\n\r\nSt Maurice lived in Cairo for twenty years, serving as equerry to the Khedive  (Ottoman governor) of Egypt. During that period, he accumulated a large collection  of historic objects from Islamic Egypt, dating especially from the 14th-16th  centuries but also including some 19th-century objects. The V&amp;A acquired about 200 objects from St Maurice collection in 1884. ","physicalDescription":"Plaster cast made from locally available Egyptian building plaster,  which has a pinkish tone. The surface has been patinated.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28674"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"plaster","id":"AAT14922"}],"techniques":[{"text":"cast","id":"x32615"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Plaster","categories":[{"text":"Africa","id":"THES49019"},{"text":"Plaster Cast","id":"THES270451"}],"styles":[{"text":"Mamluk Egypt","id":"x34993"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"005","id":"THES341781"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Column, plaster cast","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Cairo","id":"x28776"},"association":{"text":"cast","id":"x32615"},"note":"Plaster casts were installed in the maison arabe built for St Maurice  between 1872 and 1879 by the French architect Ambroise Baudry  (1838-1906), who designed several houses for prominent French ex- patriates in Egypt."}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1872-1879","earliest":"1872-01-01","latest":"1879-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"201.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"60.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Measured for Cast Courts project","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Bought from the collection of Gaston de Saint-Maurice (1831-1905) in 1884. Saint-Maurice displayed his extensive art collection at the 1878 Paris exhibition, in a gallery entitled L'Egypte des Khalifes. This was part of an official sequence of displays celebrating the history of Egypt, presented by the Egyptian state at this international event. Saint-Maurice held a position at the Khedival court, and had lived in Cairo in 1868-1878. Following the exhibition, Saint-Maurice offered his collection for sale to the South Kensington Museum (today the V&A).","historicalContext":"This object was copied in the Museum and given the number Repro.1884-812 and A. This reproduction was recorded as being on loan to the Royal Scottish Museum according to nominal file (12/12/21).","briefDescription":"Plaster cast of a corner column from the facade of the Wikala (caravanserai) of Sultan Qa’itbay, near the mosque of al-Azhar in Cairo,  built 1477.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>List of Objects in the Art Division, South Kensington Museum acquired during the Year 1884.</u> London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1885. p. 98"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Mercedes Volait, <u>Maisons de France au Caire: le remploi de grans décors mamelouks et ottomans dans une architecture moderne</u> (Cairo: Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientales, 2012)"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Gaston de Saint-Maurice","id":"C4450"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[{"text":"Paris International Exhibition, 1878","id":"V165"}],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["1025-1884"],"accessionNumberNum":"1025","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1884,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LU2104","2019LW9567","2023NP2477"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-15","recordCreationDate":"2008-07-30","availableToBook":false}}