Unpublished Wooden Doors of the Seljuk Period

Abstract

IT IS generally accepted that the wood carvings of the Seljuk period in Asia Minor, because of the wealth of their ornamental details and their technical perfection, belong with the most admirable works of Islamic decorative art. In spite of many preserved examples, both in situ, and in various public collections, no attempt has been made to treat them in a monograph. The examples which have already been published are not sufficient to enable an observation of their stylistic development and their relation to the wood carving of other Islamic countries such as Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria and Egypt. The only special treatise on Seljuk wood carving is a chapter in F. Sarre, Erzeugnisse islamischer Kunst, 11. Seldschukische Kleinkunst, published in Leipzig in 1909. Considering the scarcity of extensive published material, the aim of this short paper is to present a group of five wooden doors of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, four of which are from the famous collection of the Chinili Köshk Museum in Istanbul (Figs. 1, 3, 4, 5) and one from the Museum in Merzifun (Fig. 2).