#MC41
Ca. 1870
Watercolour on paper ca. 17x22 cm (6 ¾ x 8 ¾ in). Period ink caption on verso. A very good watercolour, mounted in a recent mat.
This attractive bright watercolour by an unknown artist shows one of the Mamluk mausoleums in Cairo, known as "the Tombs of the Caliphs." "The Mamluk sultans and elites were eager patrons of religious and scholarly life, commonly building religious or funerary complexes whose functions could include a mosque, madrasa, khanqah (for Sufis), water distribution centers (sabils), and mausoleum for themselves and their families. Among the best-known examples of Mamluk monuments in Cairo are the huge Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hasan, the Mosque of Amir al-Maridani, the Mosque of Sultan al-Mu'ayyad (whose twin minarets were built above the gate of Bab Zuwayla), the Sultan Al-Ghuri complex, the funerary complex of Sultan Qaytbay in the Northern Cemetery, and the trio of monuments in the Bayn al-Qasrayn area comprising the complex of Sultan al-Mansur Qalawun, the Madrasa of al-Nasir Muhammad, and the Madrasa of Sultan Barquq." (Wikipedia).
