Abbasid Stucco Panel

Stuccowork has been one of the most common architectural decorations in the Islamic world. Wall coverings, such as this panel, once adorned interiors of luxurious palaces, royal residences and majestic mosques of Samarra (nowadays in Iraq), one of the most extraordinary cities of the 2nd-3rd century AH/ 9th century CE. Besides colourful painted wooden ceilings, precious marble panels and polychrome wall and floor tiles, richly ornamented and skilful carved stucco revetments were part of the interior design.
This dado panel, together with two others (SW.15.1999 and possibly SW.85.1999) at the museum, were excavated by the Directorate-General of Antiquities of Iraq (DGA), under the supervision of Tariq al-Janabi during 1979 and 1982, and belong to the same building (House 10) that was uncovered on the site of Samarra. It is finely carved and decorated with geometric interlaced bands, producing large eightpointed stars, filled with stylized plant motifs.
So far consistently assigned to the typical Samarra style (Style 1/ Style C), also known as the ‘beveled Style’, these stucco panels have been mainly discussed as isolated objects with a unilateral focus on its ornamentation, without a closer look at techniques, material composition and functions, or within its archaeological context.
A fragment of the same characteristics as this panel can be found in the David Collection in Copenhagen (43/1992).