Chapter III: Stone and Plaster

In the preceding chapter we have endeavoured to point out the chief modes of decoration in mosques and houses, and the parts selected for ornament. This selection seemed a little capricious. It was natural that the sanctuary, or east end of the mosque, should be the special subject of the artist’s skill, but it is undoubtedly a defect that this skill should have been devoted so exclusively to this and other fixed points of the building. The bareness of the three other transepts of the mosque of Sultan Hasan is only rendered more conspicuous by the marble and other decoration of the east end, and even there the elaborate ornament of the dado is likely to throw the plainness of the roof into the greater prominence. So in the treatment of the exterior, the portal engrosses the attention of the architect, to the comparative neglect of the walls. This is, however, characteristic of Cairo art, and it has its merits. It would have been less usual to devote so much skilful work to the selected portions if the whole surface had been similarly treated; we should have had a general meagreness of ornament. We have now to consider the details of the ornament of which the position alone was indicated in the last chapter.

We saw that in the great mosque of Ibn-Tūlūn the chief ornament consisted in borders of floral designs running round the arches, forming friezes above them, and connecting them at the spring. These were made of plaster or stucco, worked with a tool when in a moist state, and never cast in moulds. The difference is very striking; the softness and flexuous grace of the hand-moulded patterns being in strong contrast to the hard uniformity of the Moorish mechanical castings. The borders of Ibn-Tūlūn are the earliest examples that have been found of the geometrical designs and scroll work which afterwards became so characteristic of Saracenic ornament. “The scroll-work may possibly be traced to Byzantine work, but in this building it has assumed an entirely distinct character. It is the ornament which thenceforth was gradually perfected, and its stages may be traced in the mosques and other edifices of Cairo through every form of its development. But in this, its first example, it is elementary and rude, and therefore all the more remarkable. Its continuity is not strongly marked, its forms are almost devoid of grace. In later and more fully developed examples, each portion may be continuously traced to its true root—constituting one of the most beautiful features of the art—and its forms are symmetrically perfect.”[30] The principal pattern of the stucco or plaster borders of the mosque of Ibn-Tūlūn consists in a modification of the “knop and flower” pattern which is so familiar in every branch of decoration. Almost the same design is found in ancient Egyptian wall- paintings at Thebes, and also in the Assyrian ornament of Khorsabād.[31]

Plaster ornament is a sign of early date, though it would be difficult to assign a satisfactory reason for this. The art of carving marble had certainly been known in Egypt long before the Saracens set about building mosques, and the Copts have marble pulpits and other works of early date. Nevertheless, as a fact, the earlier mosques are generally ornamented with plaster designs. The century after that of Ibn-Tūlūn is represented by the Azhar, built in 971, of which the only certainly original remnants consist in the central arcades of the sanctuary, and these are adorned with Kūfy friezes of the true Fātimy character, and arabesque ornament, all in plaster; in the eleventh we have that of El- Hākim (1012), which was decorated in plaster, though few traces of this now remain. After these two Fātimy mosques[32] there follows a wide interval before any considerable mosque offers sufficient remains to enable conclusions to be drawn. What was formerly visible of the Kāmiliya, built by El-Kāmil, nephew of Saladin, in 1224, showed plaster decoration; and the simple arabesques of the mosque of Edh-Dhāhir Beybars, _extra muros_ (1268), are of the same material. But the most perfect example of plaster ornament in Cairo is in the mausoleum of Kalaūn, A.D. 1284. Here the borders of the tall arches supporting what was once the dome, the borders of the clerestory windows above, and an infinity of other decoration, are wholly of plaster, and nothing more delicate and lace-like can be imagined. The bud surrounded by leaves again forms a central idea, but it is developed until it is scarcely recognizable, and the designs are chiefly characterized by a broad treatment of large foliage, worked round into a scroll-like continuous pattern. Continuity is a leading quality of these designs: it would be difficult to break off at any given point in the borders.

Fourteenth Century.]

Plaster work continued to be used by En-Nāsir Mohammad, the son of Kalaūn, in his two mosques, but this appears to have been nearly the last occasion (1318) of the general employment of plaster in a considerable mosque. Before the building of Sultan Hasan, in 1356-9, stone had begun to take the place of plaster (see fig. 14). Sultan Hasan’s mosque is entirely of stone facing, though, as we have seen, brick was used for the roofs of the arches or transepts, and similar internal surfaces. The ornaments, whether geometrical, scroll, or arabesque, are cut in stone or marble. The chief border of the portal consists of a bud and leaf pattern (fig. 8, page 67), obviously developed from the simple outline seen in Ibn-Tūlūn, and not nearly so complicated as the borders of Kalaūn. Probably stone was a new material to the sculptors, and was found less easy to manipulate than plaster, and the design was consequently simplified as far as possible. The rosettes at the foot of these borders are particularly fine; broad in design, yet simple and easily disentangled. The leading idea (fig. 15) is a circle of buds or flowers, joined by intertwined leaves and tendrils, and arranged in a radiating pattern round a central whorl or star. The pure self-contained arabesque is hardly found in Sultan Hasan; but the geometrical pattern arranged in a square is seen in a very fine manner. A double line, interlaced, forms the border of the square, and, at the interlacings, lines shoot out so as to form a broken pentagon, and other lines projected from this pentagon meet in the shape of a five-rayed star. The junctions of the lines are however somewhat forced; they are not natural prolongations, such as we see in the later and more perfect developments of the geometrical ornament, but break off at unexpected angles.

Early Fifteenth Century.]

The stone pulpit (fig. 16), erected in 1483 by Kāït Bey, in Barkūk’s mosque in the eastern Karāfa, a unique work, is among the most splendid examples of stone chiselling that can be seen in Cairo. Its shape is triangular, like the wooden pulpits to be described hereafter: but, instead of the sides being filled with geometrical mouldings containing numerous panels chased and inlaid with ivory, the whole of the pulpit is of stone slabs, and the geometrical designs and the ornament which fills the interstices are all chiselled in stone. The design springs from a rosette of sixteen six-sided panels, the lines of which produced in radiate form towards the centre make a star-like ornament, which is filled with an arabesque design; and being similarly produced outwards cover the whole surface with a network of interlacing lines, which eventually combine into other half-rosettes bisected by the edges of the pulpit.[33] The interstices between these interlacing lines are filled with admirably drawn floral arabesques consisting of little more than a single conventional flower with a simple border formed by developments of its extremities or with that of a simple rosette flower. The triangular side is divided from the bannister part by a looped double line and a border of delicate floral scrollwork; and the bannister portion, or side of the staircase, is of six large square panels divided by narrower upright panels of floral scrollwork, and a central panel of arabesque. The large panels are ornamented, four with arabesque patterns, and two with geometrical designs arranged round a central star. The whole side of the pulpit is made in about twelve slabs, which are so well joined that only in two or three parts are the joints distinctly visible. The canopy and other parts are also carved stone.

FIG. 18.

GEOMETRICAL ORNAMENTS FROM THE WEKALA OF KAIT BEY (_c_)]

It is, indeed, in the buildings of the Sultan Kāït Bey (1468-96) that both the pure arabesque and the finest geometrical ornament are seen in their perfection. This prince of Cairo builders allowed no portion of his edifices to be neglected, and the countless ornaments which were lavished upon his mosques and other erections were all cut in good limestone or marble. The arch of the sanctuary in his mosque _intra muros_ is a good example of the richness of this ornamentation. It is about 30 feet from the floor to the keystone, and is placed in a square wall about 39 feet high. Nine courses of plain stone, alternately coloured red, form the pier of the arch, on which is a capital formed of three tiers of stalactites. From this the arch springs with a slight projection beyond the capital, owing to its incurved horse-shoe form. The arch is formed by twenty-three courses of stone, on either side, alternately red and white, and a red keystone. Each of the white stones is carved with arabesque and geometrical patterns, arranged alternately. The arabesques are of a prevailing type, consisting of a trefoil or fleur-de-lis surrounded by leaves very beautifully interlaced. The design is, however, varied, and I doubt if any two stones would be found to tally exactly. The geometrical patterns consist of interlacing lines, forming irregular pentagons and hexagons, with little apparent regard to symmetry, though they are all related to one another in the general plan. The arch is enclosed in a raised moulding, which forms a loop at the top, in which is carved a whorl of eight rays. The spandrils of the arch are filled with a bold arabesque design, enclosed in trifoliate borders, and in the centre of each is a circular medallion inscribed with the name and titles of the Sultan and a prayer for his success, arranged in three lines. These medallions are frequently seen in Cairo, and are generally filled with the name of Kāït Bey, though other Sultans adopted the same method of putting a seal on their works. It is interesting to note that a similar arrangement of the Sultan’s titles within a medallion is seen on the fourteenth century glass lamps, and also on the gold coins of the Burgy or Circassian Mamlūks. A broad band of Arabic inscription, from the Korān, divided by arabesque panels, forms a frieze at the top, over which is a carved cornice. The whole effect of this arch, and of all the internal decoration of this beautiful little mosque, is extremely rich and finished: and it would be hard to point out a space unoccupied by some delicate design.

Fifteenth Century.]

Among the buildings of Kāït Bey, none is more fruitful in designs chiselled in stone than his Wekāla or Khān, on the south side of the Azhar mosque. This magnificent building was only a sort of hotel for travelling merchants, but its external ornamentation is superb, and in no single building in Cairo do we find so many varieties of arabesque and geometrical design in such perfect preservation. The Wekāla consists of a spacious rectangular court, surrounded by lodgings for the merchants and their beasts. Unhappily, the interior is in confusion, and has long been deserted: heaps of crumbling stone and rubbish cumber the court, which was once no doubt surrounded by walls as carefully built and ornamented as the exterior. The front, however, facing the Azhar, is fortunately in a fine state of preservation, and deserves a thorough study. When I was in Cairo in 1883, I took casts of the ornament of this front, and was fortunately able to bring back paper squeezes, fortified with layers of gipsum, of every distinct ornament on the whole façade. From these squeezes plaster casts have been made, and a set of these are exhibited in the gallery over the architectural court of the South Kensington Museum. The difficulty of obtaining every variety of design was less than it would have been in a work of an earlier date; for by the time of Kāït Bey the beauty of uniformity had been learnt, and the honest custom of the old workmen, never to repeat a design, had given place to a decorative system which while it encouraged variety approved of a certain symmetry and recurrence in the patterns. The whole number of designs in the long front of the wekala of Kāït Bey does not exceed twenty-two, if the end and doorway are not reckoned, although round the shops which run along the ground-floor of the façade there are no fewer than 120 panels of ornament.

The front of the Wekāla is decorated only on the ground-floor; the upper stories, save for small windows, are left unadorned. The ground-floor, however, makes amends for the shortcomings of the superstructure by its wealth of ornament. It consists of a row of thirteen shops, divided between the seventh and eighth by a splendid arched gateway,[34] the finest feature in a singularly fine building. This gateway is set in a recess, the jambs of which are coloured in the usual red and white stripes. The arch is broad, giving an opening of about eight feet, and pointed, and the edge is composed of stalactites in three tiers, with their surfaces carved with arabesque designs. Round the facing, above, runs a beautiful scroll border, like a wreath of roses, which forms a loop above the keystone, within which is inscribed the name of God. The same scroll border frames the spandrils. The recess in which this arch is set is brought back to the face of the front by vaulting; but in this case, instead of the common rows of stalactites, or simple arching, the depth being considerable, the vaulting is effected by a deep trefoil arch, of which the vault is formed by three smaller bays supporting an upper bay. The side bays below are filled with stalactites, which seem to constitute natural corbels on which the superstructure rests; and the surfaces of the stalactites and the spare spaces at their sides are covered with arabesques. The base of the upper bay is worked with little shell patterns, and its back is ornamented with a sparse scroll ribbon, resembling somewhat the rose border below, arranged in zigzags. The alternate courses of the stones forming the edge of the upper bay are also carved, and the whole trefoil outline of the vaulting is enclosed in a double line, looped at intervals, outside which the spandrils are filled with arabesque designs.

Fifteenth Century.]

The shops on either side of the great gateway are not unlike most other shops in Cairo. They are uniform recesses about six or seven feet high, and four to five wide; but they are surrounded with ornaments such as few other shops in Cairo can boast. Over the shop, forming a species of eave or fringe to the recess, is a wooden panel (_a_) bearing the name of Kāït Bey, in medallion form, with other carved or lattice panels, most of which have been destroyed or stolen. One or two are now in the South Kensington Museum. Over each shop is first an oblong panel (_b_) of shallow arabesque carving, the full width of the recess forming the shop, and rather over two feet high. At each side (figs. 17, 18) of this, dividing it from the similar panel over the next shop, is a narrow upright geometrical panel (_c_). Over each of the horizontal panels is a sort of arch (_d_), composed of nine small upright panels, (fig. 19) arranged so as to form an arch on the lower side and a straight line at the top, of the same width as the horizontal panel below. The four side panels (_e, f, g, h_) are counterparts each of the opposite one, though each is different from its neighbour, and the same four panels, with their counterparts or reverses, do duty for all the arched panels (except two or three which are covered with a continuous arabesque device, instead of being thus subdivided into nine pieces); the keystones (_i, k_) however are not identical over the several shops, but three different patterns are used. Between each of these arched panels and the next is a circular medallion (_e_) with the name and titles of Kāït Bey, of the kind already described. The subjoined outline will explain the arrangement:—

At the right-hand corner of the Wekāla is a Sebīl or fountain with two large grated windows, one at the front, the other round the corner, each set in a border of wooden scroll-work, and surmounted by arabesque panels; and at the corner an engaged column is hewn in the wall, with a round base composed of two drums like a dice-box, a shaft of ten drums, carved with arabesque and geometrical patterns and an Arabic inscription, and a stalactite capital; and above and on either side of the capital are geometrical panels (fig. 20) in the wall.[35]

Fifteenth Century.]

Between the Sebīl and the shops is a small doorway, leading up to the school which surmounts the fountain. This little door has a square above it marked out by a double line, looped at intervals, and subdivided into nine rectangular compartments by the same means, each of which has its geometrical device, matching on opposite sides, except one in the centre, which is occupied by a small grated window. Over this square is a splendid rosette (fig. 25) of arabesque ornament, enclosed by four spandrils of the same pattern. Beyond the sebīl, the portion of the Wekāla which stands back from the street is occupied by another door, surmounted by a trefoil vaulted arch, over which is a meshrebīya window.

FIG. 24.

GEOMETRICAL ORNAMENTS OF THE WEKALA OF KAIT BEY. ⅑th.]

Many of the ornaments of this noble building are engraved in this volume. The illustration (fig. 19) shows the arch (_d_,) with its nine panels, seven of which exhibit the true self-contained arabesque, complete within the space it occupies, and formed by the knot-like interlacing of two loops, ending in trefoil heads; whilst two show the characteristic geometrical design of Kāït Bey, triangular (essentially, though with a fourth angle in the base) figures linked together, and the intervals ornamented with cinquefoils. The two varieties of side panels (_c_) are shown in figs. 17 and 18. Some of the larger ornaments, e.g., half of an arabesque panel and half the geometrical design over the corner column, are shown in figs. 20 and 22, where figures of four sides are linked together and ornamented with stars. The rosette over the small door and two small upright panels adjoining it are shown in figs. 23-5, and two examples of geometrical and arabesque patterns from the same façade appear in figs. 26 and 27.

Fifteenth Century.]

The stone and plaster work of Cairo is, as has been seen, chiefly surface decoration, of an even or flat tone, which has little or no constructive meaning, and seems to be more or less derived from the patterns which were used for the decoration of textile fabrics. The stalactite or pendentive bracketing, however, is strictly constructive, and forms a strongly marked characteristic of Saracenic art (see fig. 10). Its first and principal use is for masking the transition from the square of the mausoleum to the circle of the dome. “In their domes the Arabs adopted, and improved on, the constructional expedient for vaulting over the space beneath, and passing from a square apartment to the circle of the dome, used by both Byzantines and Persians. The church of St. Sophia, at Constantinople, presents fine examples of its Byzantine form; but in later edifices of that style, constructional difficulties seem to have confined the architects to small domes. The buildings of the Sassanian dynasty also contain pendentives.[36] . . The Arabs, with their peculiar faculty for cutting away all superfluous material, naturally arched the overlapping stones that filled up the angles of the building; and, by using _pointed_ arches, overcame the difficulty of the Byzantine architects to which I have alluded. The pendentive was speedily adopted by the Arabs in Egypt in a great variety of shapes, and for almost every conceivable architectural and ornamental purpose: to effect the transition from the recessed windows to the outer plane of a building; and to vault, in a similar manner, the great porches of mosques, which form so grand a feature characteristic of the style. All the more simple woodwork of dwelling-houses was fashioned in a variety of curious patterns of the same character; the pendentive, in fact, strongly marks the Arab fashion of cutting off angles and useless material, always in a pleasing and constructively advantageous manner.”[37]