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Drawing of Man with Lamp, Fustat, Fatimid Egypt, 11th Century.
Keir Collection No. 75781
Drawing of Man with Pointed Hat and Dog
DATE: n.d.
MATERIAL AND TECHNIQUE: Work on paper
CLASSIFICATION: Works on Paper
DIMENSIONS: Sheet dimensions: 20 7/8 × 15 3/8 in. (53.02 × 39.05 cm) Mat dimensions (external): 3 1/2 × 3 1/2 in. (8.89 × 8.89 cm)
DEPARTMENT: The Keir Collection of Islamic Art
CREDIT LINE: The Keir Collection of Islamic Art on loan to the Dallas Museum of Art
OBJECT NUMBER: K.1.2014.1155
General Description: Keir catalogue number I.050
Source: Dallas Museum of Art
Among the many unpublished fragments with paintings and drawings that have come to light in the rubble heaps of Fustat is a small coloured drawing in the Keir Collection1 (Fig. 1). It shows the figure of a man carrying a heavy bundle or sack thrown over his shoulder which he holds with his right hand while carrying a cresset lamp in his left. He is accompanied by his dog who is prancing ahead at a lively pace.
The drawing is executed in a thick black line with some carelessly applied colour, red and ochre-yellow, on a square (87 per 87 mm) of fairly thin, smooth, grey paper. The paper has been folded at the center, both vertically and horizontally, which undoubtedly accounts for the loss of a chunk in the center. The paper is torn irregularly almost all around the edges. On the reverse there are a few lines of text which have almost entirely faded away.
The drawing may well been an illustration in a manuscript, and what remains is still enough to allow an assessment of the type and quality of work, and a possible attribution to a genre and to a time and place. The most striking elements of this small drawing is surely its subject matter, although its distinct manner of representation — basically simple in technique yet with great immediacy of impact — merits equal attention.
Source: pp. 147-148, Grube, Ernst J. “A COLOURED DRAWING OF THE FATIMID PERIOD IN THE KEIR COLLECTION.” Rivista Degli Studi Orientali, vol. 59, no. 1/4, 1985, pp. 147–174.
