Collection M.D., années 1960

Puis par descendance

Woodworking in Morocco constitutes one of the most accomplished expressions of traditional craftsmanship, heir to multiple Islamic and Mediterranean influences, particularly Andalusian ones. It is characterised by the use of fine timbers, notably cedar, and by a rich decorative vocabulary combining geometric motifs, calligraphy, and floral compositions. Developed from as early as the tenth century, and especially during the Almohad and Marinid periods, this art was applied both to architecture and to furniture, giving rise to works that are at once structural and decorative. The conservative nature of its decoration—particularly the principle of a calligraphic frieze in Kufic script beneath a polylobed arcade—can be observed across the centuries up to the Alaouite period (see nos. 344, 345 and 346).

Here, the decoration of deeply carved geometric medallions is unusual, although it does appear in fourteenth-century Nasrid art (Museo de la Alhambra, Granada, inv. R.E. 4006). By contrast, the principle of the calligraphic frieze in woodwork is attested from at least the tenth century, as seen on the minbar of the Mosque of the Andalusians, made between 980 and 985 (Batha Museum, Fez). Among the many other surviving examples from later periods, one may cite a lintel from the twelfth or thirteenth century now divided between the David Collection, Copenhagen (inv. D. 12/1986) and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (378 to D-1907).