A rare and important Tulunid Wooden Beam or Cross-bar with Kufic inscription, Egypt, 9th century

Collection Baron Elie de Rothschild [described as Abbasid Egypt (Tulunid Period, presumably from the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, Cairo) early 9th century]
Collection Jean-Paul Croisier, Geneva, who gave it on loan to the Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris

inscription

Qur'an, surah LXVII, vv.12-14

An exceedingly rare example of carved woodwork from Tulunid Egypt, with exceptional provenance.

There are, to the best of our knowledge, only two other Tulunid calligraphic beams that have ever appeared on the international art market. These are the beam from the collection of Henri d'Allemagne (dated A.H.285/A.D. 898 and measuring 200cm.) which was stolen from the Homaizi Collection during the first Gulf war and has never resurfaced (published: Louisiana Revy, vol.27, no.3, March 1987, "Art from the World of Islam, 8th-18th Century", no.10, p.65). And the second piece is the fragment, which like the present example was also formerly in the Croisier Collection and was exhibited at the Musee d'art et d'histoire in Geneva in 1988 (published: Islamic Calligraphy. Sacred and Secular Writings. Geneva, 1988, Pl. 1, pp.52-3) and is now in the David Collection, Copenhagen. This last fragment comes from the same lintel as the fragment in the Louvre, dated A.D. 879, inv.no.Depot de l'I.N.I.C.O., 1948. A further five fragments from the same panel are in the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo.

The distribution of the mortice and tenon joints on the present example suggests that, rather than an architectural fitting, it may have formed part of a piece of mosque furniture, such as for instance a kursi or Qur'an stand.