Marble panel
Egypt; 13th century
H: 24; W: 57.6 cm
The panel holds the shahada, the Muslim profession of faith: “There is no god but God and Muhammad is his Messenger,” carved in the powerful Thuluth script that was found in so many contexts under the Mamluks. The script stands on a background of entwined tendrils that can be viewed as a stylized depiction of vines.
The panel’s origins are unknown. Despite the text’s religious character, the possibility that it comes from a secular building cannot be excluded.
Inv. no. 33/1986
Published in:
Oliver Hoare, David Sulzberger: 33 masterpieces of Islamic art from Ahuan Islamic Art 1974-1984, London 1984, p. 1;
The unity of Islamic art: an exhibition to inaugurate the Islamic Art Gallery of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 1405 AH/1985 AD, The Islamic Art Gallery, Riyadh 1985, cat. 72, pp. 90-91;
Art from the World of Islam. 8th-18th century, Louisiana, Humlebæk 1987, cat. 147;
”La chronique des arts. Principales acquisitions des musées en 1986”, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Supplement, 1418, 1987, p. 18, no. 108;
Kjeld von Folsach: Islamic art. The David Collection, Copenhagen 1990, cat. 278;
Kjeld von Folsach, Torben Lundbæk and Peder Mortensen (eds.): Sultan, Shah and Great Mughal: the history and culture of the Islamic world, The National Museum, Copenhagen 1996, cat. 10;
Knud W. Jensen (ed.): De glade givere: museernes bedste billeder, Louisiana, Humlebæk 1999, p. 15 (mirrored photo);
Kjeld von Folsach: Art from the World of Islam in The David Collection, Copenhagen 2001, cat. 401;
Mumtaz Currim: "”Enter thou my Paradise": the significance of funerary inscriptions” in Mumtaz Currim (ed.): Jannat : Paradise in Islamic art, Mumbai 2012, p. 40;
Hans-Jørgen Schanz [ed.]: 50 ideer der ændrede verden, Aarhus 2014, p. 87;
