Islamic Art in Yorkshire. Colonel Sir Tatton Benvenuto Mark ...

Hammer

£50

Islamic Art in Yorkshire. Colonel Sir Tatton Benvenuto Mark Sykes, 6th Baronet (1879-1919), his restoration and embellishment of Sledmere House, c. 1913-19, a framed display of 5 b/w photographs of the Palladian country house embellished with Ottoman tiles during its restoration cum Islamification during the short tenure of the 6th baronet, with a foolscap of English and Arabic manuscript, the background sheet similarly inscribed, three monochrome images of calligraphic tilework numbered 1-5 are inscribed with stanzas of Ali ibn Abi Talib's teachings, the remaining two are ' [...] Too decoratively compiled to be able to transcribe into cursive script. Sir Mark Sykes's translation is:- "The Path of the Man who is truthful is free from Obstacles." ' [&] ' [...] Translation: "God is Great, is All-Powerful and above all." ', the lower margin of the sheet inscribed: ' The tile-work is an Arab inscriptions from the Koran, in Kufik (sic; Kufic) (after Kufa, on the Euphrates) character [...] These tiles were specially made for Sir Mark Sykes, by the Sultan's tiler in Constantinople. ', 55.5 x 50cm

Sir Mark Sykes was an English traveller, politician, and diplomatic advisor, particularly with regard to the Middle East at the time of the First World War. He is associated with The Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916), drawn up during the war regarding the future partition of the Ottoman Empire by the Allied Powers, and was a key negotiator of the Balfour Declaration. Inheriting the title and Sledmere estate on the death of his father in 1913, he also lived the typical life of a Yorkshire grandee, even if with rather exotic interests and tastes. The house having suffered a major fire in 1911, Sykes, ensnared by Ottoman aesthetics, installed the Turk Room with 2,700 Iznik-style tiles from Kütahya and embellished the laundry, housekeeper's room and chapel (as shown in these images. Sir Mark died young, succumbing to Spanish Flu, and thus plans for a hamam were never realised.

More Information

Stable condition: the images good, with slight ripple; the paper evidently browned, toned, and with some scuffs &/or small tears, the foolscap itself foxed and creased. Unexamined out of frame.