Wooden screen with enameled panels, Syria, Damascus, attributed to Nassan, late 19th - early 20th century This screen consists of three rectangular bipod panels topped with a flowery pediment and connected by hinges. Turned wood, engraved and inlaid with mother-of-pearl, bone and colored enamel plates. The engraved decoration is predominantly plant and geometric, incorporating calligraphic cartouches and enhanced by mother-of-pearl and bone stars, rosettes and discs. The enamelled plates depict a variety of scenes, some with enigmatic iconography such as two men carrying a heavy bunch of grapes on a stick, a man lifting a heavy fish; other more classical scenes such as two men hunting game with daggers, two men kneeling under a canopy. These scenes sometimes bear Arabic inscriptions such as "Wa lâ ghâlib"/"There is no winner", "Al-Âlamâ al-Sultan al-Mâlik al-Hanân"/"The scholar, the sultan, the owner of tenderness" or "Al-Âlamâ al-Sultan al-Nâsir"/"The scholar, the sultan Nasser". The decoration is completed by plaques with real animal motifs (cat, fish) or fantastical ones (demon dîv), a plaque with calligraphic decoration in Arabic thuluth "al-Sultan", and small plaques with floral decoration. A pediment restored by Tarazi engraved on the back in Arabic "Atelier de Damas 1862, found in France, Tarazi". Dim. total: 197.5 cm x 179.5 cm; dm. each panel: 165 x 60 cm (without pediment) Minor chips and accidents, enamel chips, one pediment replaced. Bibliography : Fabrique de Meubles de Cuivres et Curiosités d'Orient, G. & G. Nassan & Cie, Rue Bâb Charki, Damas (Syrie), Imprimerie Mallet & Cie, Paris, p. 13. A Wooden Screen with Enameled Panels, Syria, Damascus, attributed to Nassan, late 19th - early 20th century The delicate workmanship of this screen, combining the techniques of carving, turning, engraving and inlaying wood with enameled copper work, offers a precious compendium of Syrian craftsmanship at the turn of the 20th century. The focus on wood and the arts of fire echoes the abundant production of copperware and furniture by artistic craftsmen such as the Tarazi and Nassan families on Bab Sharqi Street in Damascus. This other renowned firm, which won several medals at universal and colonial exhibitions (Paris 1900, Marseille 1906, Brussels 1906), also includes a screen similar to ours in its catalog, number 1741, suggesting that it was probably made in their workshops. While the enamelled plates of the catalogued screen offer a pretty floral decoration, those of the Tarazi collection are striking for their puzzling and varied iconography. The scene of the men carrying a bunch of grapes illustrates a passage from the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible: "They went to the valley of Eshkol, where they cut a branch and a bunch of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole", Numbers (13:23). This evocative image for Jews and Christians is found alongside the formula "Wa lâ Ghâlib", quoted several times in the Koran, and the Islamic demon image, the dîv. Finally, the more classical scenes of hunting, fishing or men sheltering under a canopy echo popular imagery, stories handed down for generations by the storytellers in the cafés of Damascus. Maison Tarazi Collection - Lots 280 to 295