{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O368755"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O368755/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JN2332/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JN2332/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2016JN2332","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JN2342","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JR0399","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JR0401","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JR0402","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O368755/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O368755","accessionNumber":"891-1884","objectType":"Door panel","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"The panels decorating this door are believed to have once adorned the surface of a minbar commissioned by Sultan Lajin (d. 1299 A.D). The minbar was built in 1296 A.D and placed in the ninth century Mosque of Ibn Tulun. As a Mamluk officer, Lajin used the dilapidated mosque for shelter during a period of civil unrest, as he hid from his political enemies. He vowed that if he survived, he would repay the mosque by repairing it to its former glory. These  minbar panels are an example of his vow. The Lajin panels are important examples of early Mamluk woodcarving, as they attest to the skill and creativity of early Mamluk carpentry. According to Stanley Lane-Poole (1854 – 1931 A.D.) in his book The Art of the Saracens in Egypt, the Lajin minbar panels were exceptional examples of carving skill and creativity; the panels represent the peak of Mamluk minbar design. \n\nThis craftsmanship was later appreciated by Europeans residing in Cairo, who re purposed Mamluk period panels and plaques into new compositions and frames.  This door panel represents such a composite.  The salvaging of older Mamluk wood and ivory panels and their re purposing within later architectural structures was a common trend in Egypt during the time of the French influence, starting under Napoleon III yet continuing in increasing numbers towards the end of the 19th century.  The French were particularly interested in re purposing architectural elements (panels, doors and plaques) – some taken directly from minbars (Islamic pulpits) and others from architectural decorations in mosques and madrasas – to serve as decorative fittings within their Neo-Mamluk homes built in central Cairo.  Doors such as these were common during the second half of the 19th century, especially at a time when much of old historic Cairo was being transformed and modernised.  This, coupled with the increasing trend for Islamic designs, motivated European residents in Cairo to utilize such pieces within their newly designed homes.  \r\n\r\nWhen entire structures could not be re purposed (such as minbar doors), a selection of diverse panels would have been used, with ‘newer’ plaques made to fill in the missing pieces within the geometric composition.  As such, composite panels present a combination of styles, techniques and dates, some of which are today difficult to decipher, as the craftsmanship of late 19th century carvers cleverly (and quite convincingly) imitated their earlier Mamluk masters.  Indeed, this particular door panel has both Mamluk and later 19th century additions, even though its wooden frame is indisputably of the 19th century. \r\n\r\nThis panel is believed to have come from the home of the French Count Gaston Saint Maurice, built between 1860-1878.  It was later displayed at the 1878 Exposition Universelle in Paris before being acquired by the V&A\r\n","physicalDescription":"This door is a composite of different wooden and ivory carved panels taken from Lajn's minbar (pulpit) from the mosque of Ibn-Túlún, and later assembled into a 19th century door frame.  The panels represent a combination of carving techniques and styles, including ivory and ebony plaques decorated with a foliated scrollwork motif, set within a thin band of ivory or bone inlay.  The frame and support both date to the second half of the 19th century. A comparable example is now in the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin, inv.no.1884.247.\n\n\r\n","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28674"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Wood","id":"AAT11914"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Carved ivory and ebony plaques; wooden frame","categories":[{"text":"Woodwork","id":"THES48877"},{"text":"Africa","id":"THES49019"},{"text":"Architectural fittings","id":"THES48994"},{"text":"Islam","id":"THES48932"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MES","id":"THES48607"},"images":["2016JN2332","2016JN2342","2016JR0399","2016JR0401","2016JR0402"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"G","id":"THES396679"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Door panel","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Egypt","id":"x29512"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"Cairo","id":"x28776"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1296","earliest":"1296-01-01","latest":"1296-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""},{"date":{"text":"1850-80","earliest":"1850-01-01","latest":"1880-12-31"},"association":{"text":"Frame","id":"AAT111619"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"264.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"265.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Measurement taken from ‘List of Objects in the Art Division, South  Kensington Museum acquired during the Year  1884’. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1885. p. 84"}],"dimensionsNote":"","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":"","briefDescription":"One leaf of a door made from the  panels of the pulpit of  Ibn-Túlún's mosque at Cairo, set into a 19th century wooden frame, Egypt, Mamluk period, 1296 and 1850-80","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"‘List of Objects in the Art Division, South  Kensington Museum acquired during the Year 1884’. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1885. p. 84"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Mercedes Volait, Maisons de France au Caire: Le remploi de grands decors mamelouks et ottomans dans une architecture moderne (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":["891-1884"],"accessionNumberNum":"891","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1884,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN5630","2019LT3755","2019LW1234","2019LV8748"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-15","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":true}}