Kitāb Fawāt al-wafayāt
| Name of text: | Kitāb Fawāt al-wafayāt |
| Author of text: | Mohammed ibn Shakir |
| Date of text: | 14th century |
| Date of person in text: | d. 1363 |
| Name of structure in text: | Umayyad Mosque/Great Mosque of Damascus |
| Type of structure in text: | mosque |
| Date of structure in text | 8th |
| Century of structure 1: | 8 AD |
| Century of structure 2: | |
| Country in text: | Syria |
| Region in text: | |
| City in text: | Damascus |
| Specific place of mosaic in text: | |
| Description of mosaic in text: | The walls were lined with marble to a height of several toises[one toise = two metres], reigned over by an immense vine formed of gold. Above one sees little pieces … golds, greens, reds, blues, whites, which represent all the known countries. The Kaaba is placed above the mihrab and other regions are depicted, to the right and left, with trees remarkable for the fruits or flowers they produce, and other objects … Matching drapes line the walls at the point where the vine is, above which are gold pieces. |
| Mosaic date in text: | 8 AD |
| Tesserae silver mentioned in text? | |
| Tesserae gold mentioned in text? | Yes |
| Colour descriptions in text: | green red blue white |
| Bibliography: | Ibn Shakir in trans. M. Quatremere, Histoire des Sultans Mamlouks par Makrizi (Paris: 1837-44), II, pp. 261-2, quoted in Marguerite van Berchem, ‘Les Mosaiques de la Mosquée des Omayyades a Damas’, quoted in Eustache de Lorey and Marguerite Gautier van Berchem, Monuments et Mémoires (Paris: Foundation Eugene Piot, 1929), pp. 135-6 |
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