Egyptian or Syrian Table

Wooden Table Carved with Koranic Inscriptions and Inlaid with Mother-of-Pearl

The top of this splendid, ten-sided table is carved with a roundel of Koranic script including endless knot motifs, all within a border of carved, scrolling flowers. The top, as elsewhere, is inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The six tapering legs are copiously carved with similar floral motifs and with open-work flanges. The table has a second, lower shelf carved and inlaid, and with a crenulated edge.

The table has a superb patina consistent with ample age and use. There are losses here and there, the top is warped slightly, and some of the mother-of-pearl inlay is missing. But these are minor matters compared with the overall quality, symmetry and patina of the piece.

Furniture of this type was made for only a brief period in the nineteenth century in Syria and Egypt. It combined European forms with Arab motifs, and appears to have been made by local craftsmen at first for visiting Europeans, and later for local wealthy buyers.

Examples of similar work can be seen in Kuwait’s Tareq Rajab Museum and are illustrated in the Museum’s catalogue.