Portable stove decorated with horseshoe arches

Name: Portable stove decorated with horseshoe arches

Provenance: The hillside of the Castle of Mértola
Location: Islamic Museum of Mértola.
Chronology: 12th century
Description: A portable stove consisting of an upper chamber or fire chamber (of which only a small part was preserved), a convex grate with circular openings, and a lower chamber or ash collector in a frustoconical shape with openings in the form of twin doors with horseshoe arches, with an incised frame. In addition to the aesthetic treatment applied to the latter openings, the piece was richly decorated with an indented string between the two chambers, and with a pattern of lozenges in the inferior wall.
The architectural motifs are an important element in the renewal of iconography which took place during the period of African empires in the al-Ândalus.
Conservation status: The object has been restored from fragments.
Dimensions: Height 159 mm., Max. diameter 195mm

Bibliography: TORRES, Cláudio; MACIAS, Santiago (ed.) - Museu de Mértola : arte islâmica: guia do museu. Mértola: Campo Arqueológico de Mértola, 2003.