Art Mameluke

The term of art Mameluke indicates the artistic production which takes place in Egypt and Syria between 1250 and 1517, date of arrival to the Cairo of the Othoman . It is characterized by a monumental and extremely plentiful architecture, and a particular work of metal and glass.

Historical context

The Mamelukes dominated Egypt and Raising it of 14th at the beginning of the 16th century, then in an episodical way until the 19th century. Their social organization was based on imported slaves of nonMoslem areas then trained to become the elite of the country.

Structure and town planning

Architecture is without question a major art in the Mamelukes. Thus, those are at the origin of the construction of 940 monuments in the only city of Cairo, and several hundreds of other constructions in Syria and Egypt (Alexandria, Assouan, etc).

Objects

Metal

The art of metal is by far art preeminent at the period mamelouke, more appreciated and sought. The context of production is ignored enough, in spite of the presence of some textual sources. Cairo and Damas seem to have been of the important centers, but the artists refer perpetually to the town of Mosul in their signatures, by adding to their name the nisba " Al-Mawsili ". That however does not mean that Mossul was the only production center, but simply that the craftsmen of this city were particularly famous. There exist thus several objects made in Damas by mossuliens.

Works are made of brass, copper or bronze encrusted with noble metals (Or, Argent, red Cuivre) and with paste black. The objects can be produced for orders Sultan iennes and emir ales, but also intended for export.

The objects of metal are produced abundantly under the Bahrites, in various forms: basins, plates, inkstands, lamps, Ewer S, burn-perfume, boxes with Coran S… The decoration is composed of monumental épigraphies tuluth, vegetable arabesques and animal and human illustrated representations. The chinoiseries make their appearance under Kalahun. The parts produced under its reign and that of his/her son also often carry of the rounds of Canard S, which refer to their name.

One knows almost only one lamp in the name of Az-Zâhir Rukn AD-DIN Baybars Al-Bunduqdari, but the objects carried out for Kalahun and Year-Nâsir Muhammad Ben Qala' a are frequent. It is also necessary to announce, certainly dating from the beginning of the 14th century, a large basin preserved at Louvre: The Baptistry of saint Louis, remarkable by his immense intrinsic quality, the absence of name of silent partner in spite of the six signatures more or less hidden of the artist Muhammad ibn Al-Zayn, and the exceptional figurative decoration on such parts.

Under the Burjites, the economic crisis involves a production of metal sultanien extremely limited, a collapse of the orders émirales and the scaling of many works to recover invaluable materials of them. It is necessary to await the reign of Qaytbay for, in this field also, to see a revival, as testify some a ewer to the Islamic Musée of art of Cairo and a plate of the Musée of Bargello. The characteristics of this period are a flammées pole epigraphy, a decoration in relief, animals of big size and trees with reasons stylized in the shape of scale.

The occident orders many parts to the craftsmen Mamelukes, even sends works in Egypt to make them encrust. These influences are found in the blazons and the forms of the 15th century. Is the series known as Veneto Sarcel a very problematic group which one does not know if it were manufactured in occident or the East (Cairo, Damas, Iran?) while following the European taste. They are small parts to the uncommon forms, with a decoration almost anépigraphe and incrustations of small size.

Glass

One knows no object out of glass precisely dated for the period mamelouke, but several are datable thanks to the mention of a name of sultan, emir, or a sovereign Rassulide. It seems that the production stops at the 15th century, moment or the town of Barcelona starts to produce lamps of mosques out of glass and to export them in the Islamic world.

The Mamelukes produce mainly enamelled glass, obtained according to the following technique, already employed at the 12th century: the parts are heated first once and puffed up, sometimes in a mould, sometimes with the free air; the second cooking takes place then, at lower temperature, to fix less resistant enamels; gold is posed generally cold, and is generally detached on a red underlayer. In the course of time, the pallet of enamels is impoverished, but one finds more and more gold on the objects.

Glass is intended for a personal use (glass of everyday consumption, found in excavation), but more often for export towards the Christian occident, Yemen rassulide or China. The mosques are also of large consumers of lamps.

Several forms have course:

the gobelets évasés, which compose the most important group. Compared to the goblets ayyubides, those have a profile more closed again. The goblet with the birds preserved at the Foundation Gulbelkian, in Lisbon, is a particularly exceptional object, by its big size, the epigraphic absence of decoration and the presence of yellow color, very rare.
coupes, of various sizes, which borrow their form from the art of metal
the bouteilles with length col, which were already used under the ayyubides
the lampes of mosquée compose an extremely plentiful group. They have about all the same profile: high of forty cm, they are composed of a bulbous body on a high foot, of a broad shoulder with six handles and of a collar widens. In general, they are decorated with a large epigraphic band, but there are some anépigraphes.
of the rarer forms is to be announced, like the qumqum, these roses used by the ayyubides and whose production continues during second half of the 13th century. gourdes of pèlerins, often with Christian iconography, are also produced: the British Museum preserves particularly beautiful. Lastly, the vases of varied profiles leave also sometimes the workshops of glassmakers. The vase Cavour of the Islamic museum of art of Qatar is a chief of work out of blue glass with an exceptional enamel pallet (yellow, white, green emerald, blue, red). Another, from now on in Bologna, a little the same type begins again.
of the forms is also to bring closer to the art of metal, like aiguières, " crachoirs" and of the bassins. Glass, indeed, is regarded as an element less noble than metal, a material of substitution, to some extent.

The decorations are varied. One notes the important place reserved for the epigraphy, tuluth in the majority of the cases, and with the floral reasons. The chinoiseries (flowers of lotus, chrysanthemums and peonies, dragons, simurghs) also frequent, are brought by the contacts with Mongolian. The blazons are as for them completely characteristic of this period, and metal and illumination exert a deep influence.

Art of wood

Art of the book

Paper and binding

Paper used is generally Egyptian or Syrian manufacture, white or coloured pink. The sheets are dependant in books of ten folios.

The most beautiful bindings in morocco, are decorated by various techniques: stamping with the iron, drawings traced with the compass, nets gilded with the brush, etc the binding can be subject to the influence of wood, in which case it is completely decorated, or that of the illumination, which is satisfied with an ornamentation in a central mandorle and corner pieces. The interior of the bindings is composed of fabric or leather clearly carrying a papering stamped decoration (vegetable arabesques).

The binding mamelouke strongly inspired that of the Othomans at the 15th century.

Corans enluminés

One knows some corans very large size in a single volume, but the majority are composed of many books (often thirty), and are preserved in trunks. The format changes with the time, Corans of big size appearing after 1320. The place of manufacture also changes, passing from Cairo in Damas about 1340-1350.

Ink can be black or gilded, for a cursive penmanship of type naskhi, then muhaqqaq, i.e. tilted towards the left, as from 1320. The kufique one is always used for the titles of sourates.

First Corans important that one knows date from the years 1300. One is a work in seven volumes, made for Baybars and preserved at British Library. One knows the names of his illuminators by his colophon: it is of Sandal and its Ayolughdi pupil.

After 1320 is born a new style, with the copyist and illuminator Ahmad Al-Muttahib. Many Corans are then produced in answer to the orders of Muhammad year-Nâsir, of which one in a single volume (Keir collection) and more in thirty volumes.

Second half of 14th corresponds then to a period of standardization, which will be broken only by the reign of the sultan Shaban and a new style, Damascain, created by Ibrahim Al-Amidi. This one is characterized by mésopotamienne influences and Iranian woman, which lead to an abandonment partial of the geometrical forms and to the combination of those with floral reasons. Coran d' Arghun Shah, preserved at the library of Cairo, is precisely rather representative of this new current.

Manuscripts with paintings

The school mamelouke, which constitutes the last university of Arab style, inherits most of the school of Baghdad, more or less dissolved after the fall of the city in 1258. A tradition copte also continues in Egypt, but the artists work in Damas before settling in Cairo.

The texts most frequently illustrated are:

the maqâmat of Al-Hariri
Kalîla wa Dimna
translations of large Iranian texts (Shâh Nâmâ, Khamsa of Nizami, etc)
scientific texts
treaties of Hippiatrie and furûsiyya.

The style is rather rigid, in the continuation of the painting of the 13th century, and rather decorative, with money and gold bright colors, raised. The colors are often without real bond with the subject, sticking only to one representation conventional, and the use of gold decrease with the wire of time.

The first Arab school leaves many traces in:

treatment of nature (grass illustrated like a hatched line, sky in the shape of blue crescent intense, water divided into small overlapping white entities ones in the others, rectangular blocks covers of scales appearing the rocks),
treatment of the characters (squat silhouettes, with famous persons, and an intense life given thanks to the sets of glances),
summary treatment of architecture,
monumentality of the illustrations.

One should not therefore neglecting the influences it-khanides.

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