Badia Palace Marrakesh, Morrocco
Minbar from Cordoba, Spain (1137)
This marvelous minbar (a pulpit used in a mosque) is now in the Badia palace in Marrakesh, Morrocco. Thousands of ebony and ivory parts are inlaid into cedar wood. The composition is complex and typical of some of the fine work found inIslamic furniture.
It is doubtful that the craftsmen who made this were aware of ancient Egyptian decorated furniture, such as the throne from Tutankhamen’s tomb, but it is clearly in the same tradition. The influence of this Islamic work is then obvious in the later Italian work known as certosina.