Aleppo Room

[1] The panels found their way to Germany after the Wakil family sold them in 1912 to Mrs. Mary Koch, who then donated them to the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

[2] Bayt Wakil house is situated in Al-Jdayde quarter on Sissi Street in Aleppo, Syria.

The Aleppo Room paneling were carved by a Persian artist in 1603, including painted depictions of Christian scenes featuring the Virgin Mary, Christ and his disciples.

[4] The painted wooden wall panelling once furnished the reception hall of a wealthy broker's home, who was a Christian citizen in the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the 17th century.

[5] The panels found their way to Germany after the Wakil family sold them in 1912 to Mrs. Mary Koch, who then donated them to the Pergamom Museum in Berlin.

Presumably the lack of space made this reduced presentation necessary, because the Islamic collection was only one department of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum.

The exhibition should represent a wide range of works of art from the Islamic lands with their different compositions of ornaments and patterns.

Islamic Art changed at that time from a relatively strange and unknown to a popular subject with a growing public interest.

The wooden panels of this salon came from a wealthy Syrian merchant and date back to the 17th century, Isa ibn Butrus.

The owner of the house in which these panels were found, had deliberately merged Christian and Islamic iconography in these images, selecting for the murals biblical figures who also play a role in the Quran.

[8]The central panels are found in the back part of the main niche, to the left and right of a wall cupboard.

In contrast, Christian themes are portrayed on the right-side panel, and include the Last Supper, Salome's dance in front of King Herod and the sacrifice of Isaac.

Other panels around the room have individual depictions from either courtly or Christian subject matters, such as the love story of Leila and Majnun of Nizami (1141–1202) from the Haft Paykar, or the Virgin Mary and Child or Saint George.

[4] The difference of ground preparation of the red-lacquer panels is evident in comparison to the horizontal in-fills with inscriptions.

In his manuscript he wrote first about theoretical themes such as the ideals of painting, basic patterns of decorative art, etc.

Sadiqi also stressed the importance of ground preparation, which is not astonishing in comparison to the fine Persian lacquer works of that time.

The second source, Gulistani Hunan (Rose Garden of Art) was an appendix to a text written by Qadi Ahmad, in about 1608.

[7] The painting technique is divided into three components in the second publication as follows:It is exceptional that the panels of the Aleppo Room do not have a consistent ground.

We find diverse colours, such as red, blue, white, yellow, green and black in different compositions and varying layers.

On the horizontal in-fills with inscriptions the letters were accented in a pastiglia technique, which is composed of gypsum, white lead and cinnabar in a proteinaceous binding medium.

Then gold leaf was applied and the entire panel was varnished with oil-copal lacquer as a final step.

Beit Wakil in Al-Jdayde District in Aleppo, the first home of the Aleppo Room, 36.207696, 37.156238
Display of the Aleppo Room about 1938. Photo: Museum für Islamische Kunst Berlin.
A Detail in Aleppo Room - Pigment painting on wood, the painting shows a peacock
Rose water sprinkling for a kid
The Aleppo Room paneling
A Panorama View of the Aleppo Room at the Pergamon Museum