Lot Essay
The best known form of Mamluk fountain head is executed in marble and consists of a hexagonal or octagonal cylinder with pierced sides and a pillar at each corner. This was surmounted by a domed element. A typical example is that sold in these rooms 10th october 1989, lot 454. The present example is far more ambitious and sculptural in concept. Its monumentality is undeniable. This is apparent not only in the overall form, but also in the strength of the motifs carved and pierced in the top, together with the various elements borrowed from architecture.
A very similar but even larger fountain head is in the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo (inv. no. 4568, published Wiet, G.: Album du Musée Arabe du Caire, Cairo 1930, no.14). This is set within a polychrome geometric marble surround measuring 5 x 6m. The fountain head is of remarkably similar form to ours, rising from a square base in two tiers, each with waisted fluted applied pillars around the sides, terminating in rosettes, and with a carved shallow domed top. That the central block and the surround belong together is indicated by the rosette nozzles at each of the bases of the inner cusped surround, which are identical to those on the head itself.
The marble surround of the Cairo example can be dated by comparison to similar polychrome marble facings in buildings. Wiet notes its similarity to some of those in the Mausoleum of Sultan Qala'un, founded in 1285. As noted under lot 322 in this sale, however, it appears that not enough dateable stone inlay has survived to enable a complete chronological framework to be developed, so this date should be taken only as a guide. The style of inlay is likely to have continued for a number of decades.
The central carved design on the present example is difficult to parallel in its strength. One comparison does however stand out; the carved roundels either side of the entrance to the tomb madrasa of Sultan Hasan (1356-59 AD). These have the same strength of carving, with a design of two radiating circles of palmettes enclosed within lobed arabesque leaves. From the closeness of these two carvings it is possible to date this fountain head to the middle of the fourteenth century.
A very similar but even larger fountain head is in the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo (inv. no. 4568, published Wiet, G.: Album du Musée Arabe du Caire, Cairo 1930, no.14). This is set within a polychrome geometric marble surround measuring 5 x 6m. The fountain head is of remarkably similar form to ours, rising from a square base in two tiers, each with waisted fluted applied pillars around the sides, terminating in rosettes, and with a carved shallow domed top. That the central block and the surround belong together is indicated by the rosette nozzles at each of the bases of the inner cusped surround, which are identical to those on the head itself.
The marble surround of the Cairo example can be dated by comparison to similar polychrome marble facings in buildings. Wiet notes its similarity to some of those in the Mausoleum of Sultan Qala'un, founded in 1285. As noted under lot 322 in this sale, however, it appears that not enough dateable stone inlay has survived to enable a complete chronological framework to be developed, so this date should be taken only as a guide. The style of inlay is likely to have continued for a number of decades.
The central carved design on the present example is difficult to parallel in its strength. One comparison does however stand out; the carved roundels either side of the entrance to the tomb madrasa of Sultan Hasan (1356-59 AD). These have the same strength of carving, with a design of two radiating circles of palmettes enclosed within lobed arabesque leaves. From the closeness of these two carvings it is possible to date this fountain head to the middle of the fourteenth century.