Hispano-Islamic Unknown Maker, Capital from Madinat al-Zahra', c. 965

Hispano-Islamic Unknown Maker

(900–1000)

Capital from Madinat al-Zahra'

c. 965

Marble

10 3/4 x 10 1/2 x 10 1/2 in. (27.3 x 26.7 x 26.7 cm)

Meadows Museum, SMU, Dallas. Museum purchase, Meadows Museum Acquisition Fund, MM.96.01

Listen to Dr. Ali Asgar Alibhai, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Texas at Dallas and Scholar of Medieval Islamic Art History; Material and Cultural History of the Islamic World discuss this work:

On the capital’s design (1:04 minutes)

On the inscription (1:41 minutes)

On Madinat al-Zahra, the original site of the capital (2:35 minutes)

Audio Transcript

Hispano-Islamic Unknown Maker (900–1000)

Capital from Madinat al-Zahra', c. 965

by Dr. Ali Asgar Alibhai, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Texas at Dallas and Scholar of Medieval Islamic Art History; Material and Cultural History of the Islamic World

On the capital’s design (1:04 minutes)

The Meadows capital signals a new development in Muslim art and architecture in Spain. When we take a closer look, the stonecutter who made the capital has deeply chiseled into the marble to create a filigree-like quality to the surface. This chiseled surface is an arabesque design consisting of vines and leaves, appearing to almost sprawl up the capital from the bottom. The chiseled design creates an alternation between negative and positive surface space giving emphasis to the arabesques. In the midst of the chiseled arabesque surface, you can see that the stonecutter has also created acanthus leaves, which sprout outwards from the base of the capital. The structure and design of the capital itself is clearly derived from ancient Greco-Roman Corinthian capitals, and it should be noted that these aren’t simply imitations, but a conscious reference to ancient forms and structures. And also like the Corinthian capital, the Madinat al-Zahra capital has also been crowned by four volutes at its corners.

On the inscription (1:41 minutes)

The marble capital we have here at the Meadows likely dates to the tenth century and probably was made to decorate one of the great halls or palaces of the royal medieval Islamic city named Madinat al-Zahra. In between these chiseled arabesque volutes is an inscription written in Kufic Arabic consisting of several phrases. The inscription is inspired from verse 25, chapter 10 from the Qur’an, which talks about God bestowing his goodwill on his followers and providing them with palaces and gardens with rivers flowing beneath them.

The referenced verse from the Qur’an actually serves as an allusion to Madinat al-Zahra being a paradise filled with palaces and gardens alongside flowing water. This is actually how the city is described to us by medieval historians. The palace city consisted of royal residences, grand halls, hydraulic structures, and artistic workshops. It was meant to be a symbol of power and it really reflects a moment in Muslim Spain’s history when art and culture was at its height. It was built on three elevated levels, with the highest level of the city being reserved for the caliph and his royal family. Medieval historians also tell us about the vast number of stone and marble columns, around 4,300, that were made for the city and that these columns were imported from all around the world: from Africa, Byzantium, France, and also from all parts of the Iberian Peninsula. The large number of columns explains why so many capitals from Madinat al-Zahra still exist today.

On Madinat al-Zahra, the original site of the capital (2:36 minutes)

The marble capital we have here at the Meadows likely dates to the tenth century and probably was made to decorate one of the great halls or palaces of the royal medieval Islamic city named Madinat al-Zahra. Madinat al-Zahra is located a few miles west of Cordoba and was built in 936 of the common era at the foothills of the Sierra Morena mountains to serve as a new royal city for the Andalusi Umayyads, who were ruling Spain at the time. The capital here at the Meadows marks a significant change in Islamic Spain’s art history because it belongs to a period in which Muslims have now been ruling Spain for more than 200 years. Muslims first came to Spain from the Middle East and North Africa in the year 711, conquering it from the Visigoths. Previously Spain had been under Roman control. So, what we see in early Muslim architecture following the conquest, is the physical reuse of previous Roman and Visigothic ruins, including marble capitals and pillars in new Islamic buildings. There was a practical reason for this: It is easier to reuse already quarried and lathed marble pillars and previously cut and carved capitals than it is to produce entirely new ones.

Although Madinat al-Zahra’s extravagance was legendary, its fortunes did not last forever. The city was sacked and looted in 1010, soon after the Umayyad dynasty crumbled and lost its power in Spain. However, the glory that this magnificent city possessed was remembered and memorialized by later Muslim rulers in Spain and North Africa. We actually know that later Muslim rulers visited the ruins of Madinat al-Zahra and collected these capitals and reused them in their own constructions as a tribute to the great Andalusi-Umayyad rulers of Spain. Madinat al-Zahra’s marble capitals have been used as decorative ornament in medieval Muslim mosques, minarets, and other buildings across Spain and North Africa. It is clear that these later rulers were still in awe of the symbolic power and prestige that Madinat al-Zahra represented, and they wanted to create some kind of a link between themselves and the Andalusi Umayyads.

The presence of a marble capital from Madinat al-Zahra in the Meadow’s Museum collection of Spanish art is quite substantial because, like the other great Spanish works of art here, the capital also represents one of Spain’s greatest artistic and cultural periods of history.