THE PANELS, POST-MAMLUK EGYPT OR SYRIA, CIRCA 16TH CENTURY, THE CABINET, FRANCE, 19TH CENTURY

The geometric lay out seen on our panel consisting of bands of wood forming polygons filled in with bone inlays highlighting six pointed star motifs is can be compared to the Mamluk decoration seen on religious buildings and furniture. The layout of continuous or broken lines enclosing simple or complex geometric patterns such as on the minaret of the funerary complex of Qurqunas or the polychrome inlaid marble panels of the sabil-maqtab od Sultan Qayt Bay, both in Cairo and on the minbar of the funerary complex of al-Mu’ayyad Shaykh hall (Behrens-Abouseif, New York, 2007, pp. 244, 291, 311, fig. 221, 296, 353).

Simpler articulations of un-broken registers forming a lattice closer to our cabinet’s panels can be found on two Qur’an frontispieces documented by Prisses d’Avennes and dated to the 18th century (Prisse d’Avennes, Paris 1877, ill. 196 and 197)