Five wooden panels from the same architectural frieze (non-contiguous), carved and painted, bearing quotations from the Qur'an in foliated Kufic script against a background of conventionalised leafy scrollwork, Spain or Morocco, Almohad period, 1150-1250.

Five rectangular panels of pine wood that formed part of a long architectural frieze, each carved with a line of Arabic script in the foliated Kufic style against a background of conventionalised leafy scrolls, primed with gesso and painted. These panels were not contiguous, as they contain different sections of a series of quotations from the Qur'an. These texts are as follows:
378-1904 shows part of verse 256 of the surah al-Baqarah (II).
378A-1907 has the last word of verse 191 of the surah Al 'Imran (III), viz. النار (the Fire), followed by the beginning of verse 255 of al-Baqarah.
378B-1904 shows the beginning of verse 164 of al-Baqarah.
378C-1907 shows part of verse 191 of Al 'Imran.
378D-1907 has part of verse 257 of al-Baqarah.

Comparative material:
The David Collection in Copenhagen has a panel identical to these, in terms of their dimensions, the calligraphic style of the inscription, the carving of the leafy scrolls in the background, and the colouration of the whole in red, green and white paint. It would not be surprising if they came from the same monument. The David Collection panel is accession number D12/1986, and is published in Kjeld von Folsach, Art from the World of Islam, in The David Collection (Copenhagen, 2001): cat.no.430, p.268. Its caption is: "Panel, wood, carved and painted. H: 17; W: 103 cm. North Africa or Syria, 12th century".
Two very closely related panels have recently been sold at Christie's, St James's, London: the first on Tuesday 23 April 2002, and the second (in two pieces) on Tuesday 29 April 2003. These panels are contiguous, though they were sold at separate sales (the panel sold in 2002 immediately precedes that sold in 2003). They have the same calligraphy, though the uprights of the letters are more elongated, and the same scolling floral motifs in the background. They are much larger however: the dimensions of the 2003 panel are H: 27 x L: 314 cm. The catalogue article relates the particular bifurcating leaf and bud motif on the beams in the V&A and the David Collection to the decoration of monuments in Spain and North Africa (the Maghreb), mostly from the Almoravid and Almohad period, but also continuing into the Nasrid and Marinid periods. For example, they are found in the inlay on the steps of the minbar in the Kutubiyyah mosque in Marrakesh, on the great Almohad gates in Rabat and Marrakesh, and on the spandrels of the Salón de Comares in the Alhambra.
Unlike those in the V&A and David Collection, the Christie's beams are interesting in that they have a poetic inscription rather than verses from the Qur'an - the text is a pre-Islamic qasida called Lamiyyat al-'Arab by the poet al-Samwal Gharid ibn 'Adiya' al-Azdi, who died about AD 560. The text of the panel sold in 2003 reads:
"...long... And we are people who see not killing as a disgrace
Whenever (we) saw (the tribe of) 'Amir and Salul
The love of death brings close the appointed time of death) to us
And the dislike of (the love of death) makes their time of death lengthened".
Mariam Rosser-Owen

These beams, of which the V&A has six in its collection, have inscriptions from the Qur’an carved in high relief in an elegant version of 'foliated Kufic' script, and a background decoration in a much lower relief, which is covered in gesso and painted in green, red and white paint. This style of inscription, as well as the particular form of the scrolling leaf and bud motif in the background, is seen on many monuments still standing in Spain and Morocco, dating mainly from the Almoravid (ca. 1062-1150) and Almohad periods (1150-1269).
The use of verses from the Qur’an in the inscriptions on these beams suggests they originally formed part of the decoration of a religious foundation, such as a mosque or madrasah. They were probably part of a continuous frieze of Qur’anic quotations. Such friezes often ran around the tops of walls. This is the arrangement, for example, in the Dome of the Rock (Jerusalem), the Great Mosque of Córdoba, and in the Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo, where a wooden frieze similar to these originally ran to a length of over 2 km.
Mariam Rosser-Owen

The panels were part of a long frieze placed high on the walls of a religious building. They carry quotations from the Qur’an. One reads, ‘Our Lord, You have not created all this without a purpose – You are far above that! – so protect us from the torment of [the Fire]’. They were originally painted in bright colours, which made the words easier to read.

378 to D-1907