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Alabaster Capital

9th century
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
Raqqa, in north-central Syria, was important as a staging ground for attacks north into Byzantine lands. Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809), in transferring his short-lived capital of the Abbasid dynasty there, enlarged the existing city extensively. Finely carved alabaster capitals from the site offer a glimpse of the luxury and taste of the ascendant Abbasid court. Their style reflects an important shift in the arts of the later Umayyad and early Abbasid periods from naturalistic to more abstract forms. Drawn from the classical and Byzantine tradition, this capital displays the new aesthetic in the stylization of its motifs.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Alabaster Capital
  • Date: 9th century
  • Geography: Made in Syria, Raqqa
  • Medium: Alabaster
  • Dimensions: 10 5/8 x 11 7/16 x 11 7/16 in. (27 x 29 x 29 cm)
  • Classification: Sculpture
  • Credit Line: Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin—Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin (I.2195)
  • Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters