A FATIMID CARVED WHITE MARBLE PILLAR TOMBSTOME

EGYPT, 11TH/12TH CENTURY

細節

A FATIMID CARVED WHITE MARBLE PILLAR TOMBSTOME
EGYPT, 11TH/12TH CENTURY
With upper small neck and rounded finial carved with bands of scrolling arabesque interlace, the majority of the pillar covered with an engraved panel containing an extensive kufic inscription within a beaded border, the border breaking into the field and dividing the text forming an arched design, top weathered, sides very slightly abraded
39in. (99cm.) high

拍場告示

Please note that this piece is not Fatimid. It is dated 1159 and is from North Africa.

拍品專文

The main inscription in kufic carved in relief and framed by the cusped arch reads: bismillah, tasliyah, Qur'an sura xxxviii (Sad), v.67, "the grave of Sal'(?) Abu 'Umar Musa b. al-Shaykh al-Faqih (jurisconsul) b. 'Abd Allah who died on Monday 26th Jumada I of the year 554 (Monday 15th June, 1159 AD)", shihada.

The so-called pillar tombstones, rare in Egypt, are commonly found in North Africa and more particularly in Tunisia where they range in date between the eleventh and twelfth centuries. This example and that in the following lot belong to this group of which the rather coarse-grained marble and the relief carved foliate kufic are characteristic. For further discussion, please see Zbiss, M. Z.: Inscriptions de Monastir, Tunis, 1960.