MOROCCO, 14TH CENTURY

This very large beam with its floral and epigraphic decoration is an example that displays numerous characteristics of woodcarving under the Merinid dynasty. A beautiful line of kufic letters write the word al-yumn (prosperity) in a symmetric composition. This beam originally came from the same frieze as a panel offered at Christie's, London, 7 October 2008, lot 100 which retains its full height. There, the elongated upstrokes rise and interlock to form a double scalloped arch under which the centre of the composition is marked with a seven-lobed shell. Between each two arches, a pair of columns with capitals support a semi-circular arch, as visible in the present beam. The overall floral decoration is made of half double-palmettes and their stems interlace on the upper spandrels. The double-palmette motif is carved wide and plain and the sense of depth is only given by slight curves under the overlaps. Remains of polychrome painting indicate that, as in the neighbouring Nasrid kingdom with whom the Merinids had strong links, the decoration was highly coloured, even in religious foundations. The absence of pinecones in the vegetal decoration, unlike most of similar pieces, is worthy of attention. They appear for instance on an intricate frieze, similar in many points although more detailed and probably earlier, that is attributed to late 13th century Fez. Panels of the frieze are in the Musée Nejjarine des Arts et Métiers du bois, Fez (inv.no.98-279, Lintz, 2014, cat.269, pp.444-445) and in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (inv.1985.241). Both pieces have remains of polychrome, with the inscription highlighted in white. It is very probable that our beam derives directly from this late 13th century prototype.

The 13th century Merinid al-Saffarin madrasa holds an early example of such friezes (Lintz, 2014, p.445). A beam from the al-Sahrij madrasa in Fez (1323) shows a similar epigraphic frieze repeating the word yumn with high and interlocking upstrokes under arches supported by short columns and covering a central shell. This decoration is, however, more compressed and less clear than in the present example (Aix-en-Provence, 1991, ill. 157). The now demolished al-Djadida madrasa in Ceuta, built in 1347, held a beam with similar design although flatter and carved in shallow depth which closely relates to ours (Lintz, 2014, cat.292, p.490). In the al-Sahrij madrasa, the frieze with a decoration of arches comes above a frieze of Qur'anic verses written in a slightly less-stylised kufic. This composition of two friezes one above the other is also found in other Merinid madrasas such as the Bu 'Inaniya in Fez (c. 1350) and the madrasa of Salih (1341.; Terrasse, 1925, pl. xxxv, xxxvi).

According to surviving examples of Merinid architecture this type of panel was originally situated on the walls of the inner courtyard, above the lateral arcades parallel to the long side of the central basin. However, the good state of conservation of the beam and its decoration indicates a position in an inner room where it would not have been exposed to the elements. The size of that room, judging from the scale of this panel, would have been considerable.