A POLYCHROME PAINTED AND RELIEF CARVED DAMASCUS ROOM

SYRIA, DATED AH 122(0)/1805-06 AD

細節

A POLYCHROME PAINTED AND RELIEF CARVED DAMASCUS ROOM
SYRIA, DATED AH 122(0)/1805-06 AD
Comprising a near square room, each wall composed of four large rectangular panels, one wall with a large arch flanked by two shelving panels; another with a large set of double doors flanked by two smaller double doors and a further ornamental niche topped with muqarnas vault; the third wall with three arches and a further empty space forming the corner with the fourth wall; the fourth wall with similar space, a small double door panel and two further arches, all of the individual elements with panelling between, the surface decorated with gilt and polychrome stucco and paint with geometric designs, floral vignettes, architectural scenes and still lives, a series of calligraphic cartouches with the Throne Verse (Qur'an II, (sura al-baqara), v.255) and date in gold naskh on green gold-illuminated ground above each of the smaller arches, all arches and doors are framed by floral strapwork bands which form roundels with pronouned bosses above the individual elements, a carved cornice above with further cusped vignettes with architectural, floral or fruit design reserved against a floral ground and with occasional muqarnas vaults
124in. (315cm.) high; longer walls 216½in. (550cm.); shorter walls 186 1/8in. (473cm.); niche 26 7/8in. (68cm.) wide; large opening 76 7/8in. (195cm.) wide

榮譽呈獻

Romain Pingannaud

rpingannaud@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2374

拍品專文

In the 18th and 19th century, the fashion for richly decorated interiors gained enormous popularity in Damascus. Adapting a Western European style to more traditional Near-Eastern wooden interiors, the Damascene notables initiated a taste for richly decorated rooms permeated with various influences and involving many sophisticated techniques.

The interest for these panelled rooms and the fashion for collecting them can be traced back to the 19th century when they were sought after in particular for the residences of Western consuls to Damascus but also brought back to Europe and incorporated into Western interiors from around 1850. Those purchased in the mid-20th century by the Armenian Hagop Kevorkian and the Lebanese Henri Pharaon are now standing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and in the splendid Demeure of Henri Pharaon in Beirut. The present room recalls in many aspects the salon doriae of the latter's house whose panels bear the date of 1772 AD (Demeure de M. Henri Pharaon, Comit de la Socit latine de bienfaisance, Beirut).

Two similar rooms, one dated AH 1214/1799-1800 AD, were sold in these Rooms 6 October 2009, lot 225 and 10 April 2010, lot 265.