Pair of Minbar Doors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 2019

Pair of Minbar Doors
ca. 1325–30


Object Details

Title: Pair of Minbar Doors

Date: ca. 1325–30

Geography: Attributed to Egypt, Cairo

Medium: Wood (rosewood and mulberry); carved, inlaid with carved ivory, ebony, and other woods

Dimensions: H. 77 1/4 in. (196.2 cm)
W. 35 in. (88.9 cm)
D. 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm)
Object encased in weighted freestanding mount. Estimated Wt of piece: 80- 120 lbs.

Classification: Wood

Credit Line: Edward C. Moore Collection, Bequest of Edward C. Moore, 1891

Accession Number: 91.1.2064


A minbar, or pulpit, consists of a podium reached by stairs with doors such as these at its base. It is used in mosques by imams, prayer leaders, to deliver the sermon at the main service of the week, at noon on Friday. These doors, with the intricate geometric inlay typical of the Mamluk period, are thought to come from the fourteenth‑century mosque of Saif al‑Din Qawsun in Cairo. They were one of the earliest bequests to the Museum, donated by Edward C. Moore, a designer at Tiffany and Co. who was inspired by Islamic art.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/444812