The splendor of the room testifies to the important position of its owner in one of the most significant commercial centers of the Near East: 400 years ago, 1601 to 1603, in the Syrian Aleppo, the Christian merchant Isa b. Butrus had a lavish wall panel made for the entrance hall of his house. Since 1912, this work of art, known as the Aleppo Room, has been on exhibit as a treaure of the Museum of Islamic Art on [Berlin's] Museum Island. In its original layout, it covers a T-shaped room, the three parts of which can be seen as one unit, but are far enough apart so that groups assembled in each could converse without disturbing each other.
In a symposium at the Berliner Magnus-Haus opposite the Pergamon Museum, home of the Museum for Islamic Art, art scholars, architectural researchers and historians attempt to decipher the opulent pictorial scheme which makes the ensemble singular: Which stylistic influences can be ascertained? What does the Aleppo Room tell us about the social situation in the third most important city, after Istanbul and Cairo, of the Ottoman Empire, in general, and of the Christians in particular? And who was the owner?
All that is known about him is that he was a broker of merchandise and a member of the brokers' prestigious guild. He belonged to the approximately 20 percent Christian part of the roughly 250,000 inhabitants, predominately Muslim, of this important center on the trade route for spices from India and materials from Persia, as well as coffee from the Arab peninsula. There was no religious discrimination, generally or in the brokers' guild.
In the trade with the Christian west, which was mostly for luxury goods -- the city was a leader in silk production, in the trade of diamonds and other jewels from India, and in the refinement of metal goods -- Christians were sometimes at an advantage, because European buyers preferred Christian conversation and business partners.
Aplomb and consideration distinguish, besides the purely decorative flowering vines and fabulous animals dancing in circles, the thematic plan of the Aleppo room -- a "conscious strategy to receive guests of each faith in this dwelling," as the French historian Bernhard Heyberger (Strasbourg) called it. All, not just Christian.
Courtly motifs such as hunting scenes can be interpreted as reverance to the ruler in faraway Istanbul. Religious scenes refer to the faith of the gentleman of the house, but are represented with such restraint that they would not offend Muslims, who surely were received as business associates. Thus, for representation of the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham, the Muslim version was clearly chosen: The angel, who in the Biblical tradition stops the blow of the father's sword by calling out, here appears in the air bringing the ram, which God accepts as sacrifice in place of the son of the prophet.
Jesus and Mary, who appear in several medallions, are also in the Koran. The boy is not painted here with a halo, but, as comes from the Buddist tradition, with an aureole. The actual core of the Christian faith, the crucifixion and resurrection, were left out. At the last supper, Jesus and the disciples kneel at the table, according to the Arab tradition. There is also neither wine nor bread.
Stylistically, the room is difficult to classify. There is no precise assumption of the official Ottoman courtyard style, as it was determined also for the provinces by the central court studio Nakkaschchane in Istanbul, even if individual elements can be recognized. The elegance of the representation of people, flowers and animals recalls Persian painting, as Ingeborg Luschey-Schmeisser (Tübingen) demonstrated with examples.
It's by virtue of this "unique monument" of painting -- for there is no comparison for it -- it's pictorial scheme, that one can read a search for community, even of the religions (Klaus-Peter Haase, Director of the Museum of Islamic Art). The mutual discrimination of the religions came later -- "through the influence of Europe" (Heyberger).
-- By Wolgang Lehmann
From Der Tagesspiegel on Line
April 19, 2002
Translated by Greg Macon
Images of the Aleppo room in this virtual gallery, otherwise uncredited, are from Ein christlich-orientalisches Wohnhaus des 17. Jahrhunderts aus Aleppo (Syrien). Das „Aleppo-Zimmer“ im Museum für Islamische Kunst, by Julia Gonnella, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz, 1996.