An Umayyad carved marble capital, period of al-Hakam II, circa A.D. 968-976, probably Madinat al-Zahra, Spain, period of al-Hakam II, circa A.D. 968-976

of characteristic form, carved and drilled with an elaborate lattice of acanthus scrolls and vegetation in two registers, rising to an egg-and-dart band surmounted by four scrolled volutes

Three comparable capitals in the Museo Arqueológico Provincial de Córdoba, attributed to Córdoba or Madinat al-Zahra, illustrate the evolution of this type of capital in Umayyad Spain during the reigns of Abd al-Rahman III (912-961) and al-Hakam II (961-976) (see Dodds 1992, nos.37 & 38).  The form, which derives ultimately from a classical Corinthian prototype, assumed a more lacey, stylised appearance in the Visigothic and early Umayyad periods, influenced by current trends in the Byzantine world where a tendency to drill rather than to carve resulted in a more "honeycombed" effect.

This example is almost certainly from Madinat al-Zahra and the reign of al-Hakam II (961-976).

The closest comparison is to a capital in the Museo de la Alhambra (R.E. 1672) (Granada 1995, no.56, p.257), which evinces a similar two-tiered acanthus design and the egg-and-dart minor band.  These features are shared by other capitals from Madina al-Zahra, including the dated example in the al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait (ibid., no.39, p.247), which bears the name and titles of al-Hakam and the year 362 (A.D.972-3), providing an fixed date for the whole group.

Further published examples of capitals from Madinat al-Zahra can be found in Paris 2000, nos.73, 75, 78 and 79.  A slightly more compact version sold at Christie's, 11 October 2005, lot 21.