{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O402541"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O402541/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2014GY2428/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2014GY2428/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2014GY2428","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014GY2435","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014GY2535","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AX7840","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AW4323","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AW4349","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KE1971","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KE1977","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O402541/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O402541","accessionNumber":"A.50-1922","objectType":"Wall painting fragment","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Fragment of a frieze, plaster, the section with a slightly curved face, covered in fine white plaster and painted with a pearl border in black outlines, the top layer is painted in black outlines with a stringed instrument, perhaps a lute with four tuning pegs and part of an arm. It is all on a pastel green ground. Where the plaster has chipped, there are traces of another frieze below in ochre and yellow belonging to an earlier period. The reverse has an impressed herringbone woven reed mat and two lines of cord. There is also a rectangular iron nail head.  ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"makers","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"plaster","id":"AAT14922"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Fragment of a frieze, plaster, large section of slightly concave surface, covered with a fine white plaster and one end having a painted border in black, orange and red, wth orange hearts with V-shaped strokes and outlines in black, on a red ground, traces of paint on the other end. Traces of a brown line/patch, probably a stain from a leak in the roof. The reverse with impressed reeds and traces of cords.","categories":[{"text":"Architecture","id":"THES48993"},{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"}],"styles":[{"text":"Abbasid","id":"AAT21521"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"MES","id":"THES48607"},"images":["2014GY2428","2014GY2435","2014GY2535","2006AX7840","2006AW4323","2006AW4349","2017KE1971","2017KE1977"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"015","id":"THES379460"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Fragment","id":"AAT117130"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Samarra","id":"x29120"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"836-900","earliest":"0836-01-01","latest":"0900-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by H.M. Government\r\n\r\nThe research, cataloguing and digitisation of the V&A's Samarra collection has been made possible by a pilot project grant from the British Institute for the Study of Iraq (2013).","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"26","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"20.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Thickness","value":"2.8-3.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"from register","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":" ","type":"","note":""},{"content":" ","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"The German Archaeologist, Ernst Herzfeld (1879- 1948) chose Samarra as the site for the first large-scale archaeological investigation into  Islamic antiquities. Two excavations took place,  in 1911 and later from 1912-1913.  The list of Herzfeld's finds numbered in excess of 1161 objects. These included wall paintings, stucco wall revetments, carved and painted woodwork, architectural details carved from marble and alabaster and smaller finds of glass, ceramics, steatite and mother of pearl.\r\n\r\nAll of the finds were stored at Samarra except for 100 panels of carved stucco which were shipped back to Germany and are now in the Museum für Islamische Kunst in Berlin. After Samarra was captured by the British in World War I, the remaining finds were moved to Basra via Baghdad, where Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) as honorary Director of Antiquities in Iraq, acted as the art advisor to the V&A. Due to the efforts of the directors of both the V&A and the British Museum, the finds were eventually shipped to London in 1921.\r\n\r\nThe Foreign and Colonial Office convened a commission at the British Museum, which Herzfeld was invited to preside over to divide the Samarra finds into type sets. These were later offered to over twenty different museums and collections including the V&A which received several hundred objects in all media, accessioned in 1922.","historicalContext":"Samarra was founded by the Abbasid Caliph al-Mu'tasim (r. 833-842) in 836 AD to serve as his imperial capital. The sight chosen was about 125km upstream from Baghdad on the left bank of the Tigris. The founding of new cities was an important way of displaying values of kingship. Al-Mu'tasim ordered the construction of a planned city including a network of canals, streets, monumental mosques, palaces, gardens and racecourses. He also allocated land to military and court officials, who built richly decorated palace complexes  and greatly increased the size of the city. His son and successor, Caliph al-Mutawakkil (r. 847-861) ordered the construction of the famous spiral minaret at the great mosque. Construction halted at Samarra in about 880 AD and later was abandoned by the Caliph and his court in 892. At 57 km2, Samarra is today the largest Islamic  archaeological site in the world.\r\n\r\nThe construction of the many mosques and palaces at Samarra fostered an early flowering of architectural decoration. What mainly survives today are wall revetments in carved stucco and wall paintings on fine gypsum surfaces.  Earlier Iranian (Sassanian) decorative styles influenced much of the carved stucco panels found at Samarra. The decoration was primarily based on vegetal forms but later developed into more abstract motifs.  The wall paintings illustrate a wide range of subjects such as geometric patterns and courtly scenes with figurative representations of listening and playing music, banqueting and dancing. Depictions of animals, especially camels and birds also feature on fragments recovered from the site.","briefDescription":"Part of a frieze, plaster, polychrome painted with a pearl border and a musical instrument; Iraq (Samarra), 836-900.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Lucia Burgio, Robin J. H. Clark, Mariam Rosser-Owen, \"Raman analysis of ninth-century Iraqi stuccoes from Samarra\",<i> Journal of Archaelogical Science </i>34 (2007) 756-762"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Ernst Herzfeld, <i>Die Malereien von Samarra</i>, Berlin, (1927)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Fatma Dahmani, <i>'Bilan des Peintures Trouvées à  Samarra et Quelques Observations'</i>, Unpublished Masters thesis  presented to the Université de Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne, UFR  (03) Art et Archéologie, (2005-6)"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"musical instruments","id":"AAT41620"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["A.50-1922"],"accessionNumberNum":"50","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":1922,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-22","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-25","availableToBook":true}}