The stylish building next to the Marriott Hotel is the Islamic Pottery Museum.
The collection of pottery from various regions of the Islamic world, including the successive dynasties of Egypt during the Islamic period from the Umayyad to the Ottoman, Turkey, Iran, Syria, North Africa, and the Iberian Peninsula. The vivid blue pottery collection from the Mamluk and Ottoman eras is a must-see. This quantity and quality of Iznik and Kutafuya pottery collections are not even found in Turkey. It is also interesting to compare the designs of different dynasties and production areas.
The museum itself is also the palace of Amru Ibrahim, the grandson of Muhammad Ali, and the furnishings and decorations are also impressive. Objects are placed everywhere on the back of the building.
The idea of establishing the Islamic Ceramic Museum comes to display a group of masterpieces made in the style of Islamic architecture. The Egyptian civilization is the oldest human civilization related to ceramic art since before history and throughout the ages.
The Islamic Ceramic Museum occupies the first and second floors of the “Prince Amr Ibrahim” palace at the Gezira Art Center in Zamalek. The construction date of the palace dates back to the last years of the first quarter of the twentieth century AD. It was built to combine several architectural styles, as its architectural elements are inspired by the Moroccan style, the Turkish style, and the Andalusian style, while influencing the European classical style.
Description of the museum and its contents:
The museum consists of a group of halls in the middle of the main hall, and in the center of the main hall there is a fountain, and the main hall is distinguished by an impressive set of stained-glass windows.
The Fatimid Ceramic Hall:
It is located on the right side of the museum door and takes a geometric shape that is rectangular, its entrance in the form of a semi-circular tray. The walls of the Fatimid hall to the center are decorated with Turkish-style tiles in blue, white and brick red, and the texture of the decoration is a geometric shape in the center of each tile surrounded by drawing small flowers.
Starting from the middle of the walls to the ceiling of the hall are floral motifs intertwined with each other, “Arabesque”. The ceiling of the hall is interrupted by the decoration of the star dish, which is an Islamic decoration famous for the inclusion of the name of Prince Amr Ibrahim, “the owner of the palace”. The red is in Granada, in Andalusia, and the wall ends from above with a tape of Qur’anic verse.
In the middle of the hall is a marble dining room, which is one of the palace furniture, as this hall was intended for dining and the dining room is surrounded by a stream of water. The Fatimid period, but most of it belongs to the eleventh century and there is one Abbasid dish that belongs to the ninth century AD.
On the two sides of the door of the hall there are two marble countertops from the palace furniture, each displaying some of the museum’s holdings. In the confrontation there are two other marble countertops on each of them other exhibits of the museum.
The total exhibited in this hall is 74 art pieces, most of which belong to the Fatimid era. These pieces are varied between dishes, plates, oil bottles, windows, seals, pots and textures of various motifs, ranging from animal, human, plant and engineering motifs.
All windows and doors of the hall are decorated with Islamic motifs and take on various engineering forms, which are very rare
The hall door is made of wood decorated with Islamic engineering motifs like star dish decoration. There is a connection between the Turkish hall and the Egyptian style hall “Mamluk – Ayyubid – Umayyad – Ottoman” through an opening in the wall, and the sides of the opening are decorated with floral motifs consisting of a vase from which branches of flowers and flowers and colored leaves come out.
Turkish style hall
It is located on the left side of the museum door, with a rectangular geometric shape. Facing the door of the hall there is a large window and another window to the left of the interior of the hall, which are of Arabesque wood.
The walls of the hall to the center are decorated in Turkish-style tiles in blue and white and red brick.
From the middle of the walls to the ceiling, there are plant motifs from plaster, which are then poured onto the walls. This part borders from the top and from the bottom of a strip of writing for a repeated phrase, which is (and there is no one but God). The ceiling is decorated with the decoration of the stellar dish.
To the right of the door of the hall there is a fireplace, which takes the form of a conical and consists of ceramic tiles in the Turkish style, which has to write the phrase (universal blessing) – and it is surmounted by the highest clerks (and there is nothing but God) and the form of squares inside one of them is the word Majesty (God) and the other is the word Muhammad. The decoration is made of arabesque motifs, which are interwoven and interwoven with floral motifs.
The hall contains 12 vitrine of different sizes in addition to one large vitrine mediating the hall and the hall contains the number of 96 artifacts belonging to the Turkish era in the centuries 16-17-18 AD
These holdings are varied in their forms, including dishes, plates, sultans, jugs, cups, pots, cups, cups, lanterns, ceramic tiles, and the texture of the decoration in these collections is the plant motifs in its various forms and animal motifs.
Hall of the Egyptian Mamluk-Ayyubid-Ottoman-Umayyad style:
This hall was dedicated to display the collectibles that were made in this era while it is located next to the Turkish hall (there is no separation between them) and it contains some artifacts that were produced in Egypt in different Islamic countries that ruled Egypt over the ages such as the Umayyad – Ayyubid – Mamluk – Ottoman. The hall has a rectangular geometrical shape, the floor of the hall is marble slabs. The ceiling of the hall, decorated with geometric motifs, are repetitive units of stellar ornamentation interspersed with geometric floral motifs.
The walls to the middle are covered with Turkish-style tiles with floral motifs. They are intertwined floral branches in blue, white and brick red. These tiles are bordered from the top and bottom of a row of tiles in light blue and the texture of the decoration is a modified leaf and reciprocally inverted.
There are 6 chambers in different halls showing sizes of 39 artifacts made in different Egyptian ages between Ayoubi, Mamluk, Ottoman, and Umayyad, and they vary from candlesticks, plates, sultans, tiles, grills, windows, and so on.
The decorations of these artifacts are characterized by their simplicity, and they are either written, engineering, animal or simple floral designs.
The lobby contains a number of eight small vetars containing artifacts belonging to the Turkish, Iranian and Mamluk eras, and they range from vases, jugs and sultans, all of which are dominated by plant motifs.
Among the distinctive pieces is an artifact consisting of a jug ending with an animal head (Iranian style), in addition to a bowl belonging to the Mamluk era, with written text and restoration.
Some pieces of modern furniture have been added to the foyer in its corners, with the addition of a wooden stand with a microphone stand for cultural seminars and concerts held in the lobby of the museum with a piano to play in these parties with a newly manufactured circular table designed in Islamic style to conform to the architectural style of the building .
The lobby:
At the entrance to the museum is the foyer, which takes the shape of a rectangle on which the doors of different halls open, and the door of the staircase leading to the upper floor. The lobby is surrounded by a sparkling (fountain) of marble that takes the geometric shape with small geometric motifs from the same marble tiles
As for the walls in the middle, they are of marble that take the form of successive rectangles, topped by a row of cast stucco decorations. As for the rest of the walls to the ceiling, they are from the original plaster, which takes the form of rectangles in the walls, designed with a Mameluke influence.
The ceiling of the lobby is covered by a luxurious dome that follows the style of the Mamluk domes. 16 nets of stained glass open in the neck of the dome. Then comes the dome helmet, which is semi-circular. From the center of the dome, a copper chandelier is illuminated for lighting. There are four copper bars in the four corners of the foyer, and there are Islamic motifs on all doors of the halls.
Prince Hall:
It is preceded by a number of steps leading to it and is one of the four rooms located on the upper floor. This room or hall consists of an external room, then a middle room, then a bathroom.
The outer room takes the shape of a square and one of its ribs is located on the right of the interior of the hall. 18 A.D. and the remaining four pieces are pots made from the city of Raqqa – Syria, with buried decorations, and their history dates back to the 12th century.
The middle room takes a square geometric shape and is attached to the external room and has openings for lighting. This opening is surmounted by the decoration of the radiant sun disk. These motifs are influenced by European art. To the left of this room are a sofa with prominent motifs in wood and gilded and they are from the palace furniture and on the side there is a box of wood inlaid with seashells To save jewelry and valuables. As for the ceiling of this room, it is of woven wood and gilding, and this method of covering was widespread during the Mamluk and Ottoman period.
The halls of Iranian collection:
The upper floor of the museum is connected to the ground floor with an internal staircase, and the upper floor takes on a rectangular geometrical shape. It opens in two of the rectangular sides of four doors. Two to the left of the interior, the two rooms to the right are the museum director’s room and the Prince’s room.
In addition to two walls, independent to display two pieces of Andalusian antique in the seventeenth century. As well as 2 bowls of Iraqi style dating back to the 9th century AD.
And artifacts of the Iranian style are varied in its forms, between sultans, jugs and tiles in square or star shapes, pots, dishes and plates, all of which belong to metallic luster ceramics or pots of the city of Sultanabad. As for the decorations, they are diverse and they are either animal, especially fabulous animals or written motifs, especially the Persian language, And floral motifs.
And there is a sofa in the hall in addition to a wooden box inlaid with mother of pearl, and there is a wooden door that takes the form of a semicircular contract topped with Islamic motifs of cast plaster and the door itself is made of two sash of wood decorated with Islamic motifs.
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