Palaces

9th-century Stucco Designs

The palaces of Samarra’ are particularly famous for their stucco walls, which art historians have analyzed to give us three groups. Type A with vine leaves, more naturalist:

Type B, starting towards abstraction:

Type C, molded, very abstract with beveling:

9th-century Painting

We have enough remnants to imagine the paintings in some of the palaces of Samarra’.

The most famous wall painting in Samarra’ is in the palace Jawsaq al-Khaqani (or Dar al-Khalifa), called the “Samarra Dancers.” This photo was published in 1927, along with the following reconstruction of the entire painting.

Here, existing fragments have been imagined as they may have looked:

Here again, small fragments have been used as inspiration for a 20th-century reconstruction:

9th-century Glass

The excavations at Samarra’ also unearthed glass fragments, including tesserae (pieces that were used in mosaics) and vessels. Most were produced at Samarra’, but we also have some evidence of trade.

Millefiori glass:

Glass tesserae:

Vessel fragments: