This structure, built by Sultan Qansuh Abu Sa'id in 1499, is a freestanding royal mausoleum from the late Mamluk period. Although its proportions and overall composition conform to the typical scheme of this kind of detached mausoleum, it introduces two variations on the predominant decorative themes. The carving on the stone dome substitutes an overall pattern of isolated star rosettes surrounded by interlocking arrow shapes for the standard arabesque designs fashionable in this period. The other novel feature is the implied triangular pediment manifested by the stone molding on the exterior zone of transition right below the dome. The zone of transition is externally expressed by means of three tiers of half-prisms, a development from that of the dome of the Mosque of Qijmas al-Ishaqi, where the half-pyramids are set in two tiers only.
Sources:
Jarrar, Sabri, András Riedlmayer, and Jeffrey B. Spurr. Resources for the Study of Islamic Architecture. Cambridge, MA: Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, 1994.
Kessler, Christel. The Carved Masonry Domes of Mediaeval Cairo. n.p.: London : AARP, 1976.
This structure, built by Sultan Qansuh Abu Sa'id in 1499, is a freestanding royal mausoleum from the late Mamluk period. Although its proportions and overall composition conform to the typical scheme of this kind of detached mausoleum, it introduces two variations on the predominant decorative themes. The carving on the stone dome substitutes an overall pattern of isolated star rosettes surrounded by interlocking arrow shapes for the standard arabesque designs fashionable in this period. The other novel feature is the implied triangular pediment manifested by the stone molding on the exterior zone of transition right below the dome. The zone of transition is externally expressed by means of three tiers of half-prisms, a development from that of the dome of the Mosque of Qijmas al-Ishaqi, where the half-pyramids are set in two tiers only.
Sources:
Jarrar, Sabri, András Riedlmayer, and Jeffrey B. Spurr. Resources for the Study of Islamic Architecture. Cambridge, MA: Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, 1994.
Kessler, Christel. The Carved Masonry Domes of Mediaeval Cairo. n.p.: London : AARP, 1976.