Editing Almohad Caliphate (section)

==== Metalwork ====
[[File:Lion de Monzon 09420.JPG|thumb|The Monzón Lion, a bronze fountain from Al-Andalus dating from the 12th-13th century]]
The French historian [[Henri Terrasse]] described [[University of al-Qarawiyyin|al-Qarawiyyin's]] bronze grand [[chandelier]], commissioned by Caliph [[Muhammad al-Nasir]], as "the largest and most beautiful chandelier in the Islamic world."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Qantara - Large chandelier of the Qarawīyyīn Mosque|url=https://www.qantara-med.org/public/show_document.php?do_id=1022&lang=en|access-date=2021-02-21|website=www.qantara-med.org}}</ref><ref name=":03">{{Cite book|last=Terrasse|first=Henri|title=La Mosquée al-Qaraouiyin à Fès; avec une étude de Gaston Deverdun sur les inscriptions historiques de la mosquée|publisher=Librairie C. Klincksieck|year=1968|location=Paris}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=i24NEWS|url=https://www.i24news.tv/ar/%D8%A3%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1/%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%84%D9%8A/%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%82%D9%8A%D8%A7/1569146827-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%BA%D8%B1%D8%A8-%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%85%D9%88%D9%82%D8%B9%D9%86%D8%A7-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AB%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D8%A8%D8%B1%D9%89-%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%88%D8%AF-%D8%A5%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%B3|access-date=2020-09-11|website=www.i24news.tv}}</ref> The chandelier consists of a 12-sided cupola on top of which is mounted a large cone crowned around its sides with nine levels of candlesticks. The visible surfaces of the chandelier are carved and pierced with intricate floral arabesque motifs as well as [[Kufic]] Arabic inscriptions. The chandelier is now the oldest surviving chandelier in the western Islamic world, and it likely served as a model for the later and nearly equally famous Marinid chandelier in the [[Great Mosque of Taza]].{{Sfn|Lintz|Déléry|Tuil Leonetti|2014|p=334}}

Another important piece, the so-called Monzón Lion, also dates from the Almohad period during the 12 or 13th century and is held in the [[Louvre|Louvre Museum]] today. It is an example of figural bronze sculpture from al-Andalus that continues in the tradition of earlier objects such as the 11th-century [[Pisa Griffin]] (kept at the [[Pisa Cathedral|Cathedral Museum]] of [[Pisa]]) and the 10th-century Stag of Córdoba<ref>{{Cite web|title=Qantara - Spout of a fountain in the form of a stag|url=https://www.qantara-med.org/public/show_document.php?do_id=209&lang=en|access-date=2021-02-21|website=www.qantara-med.org}}</ref> made in [[Medina Azahara|Madinat al-Zahra]] (now kept at the [[Archaeological and Ethnological Museum of Córdoba|Archeological Museum of Córdoba]]). It was found in [[Monzón de Campos|Monzón]], near [[Palencia]], but it is not known where exactly in the Iberian Peninsula it was made. As Palencia was outside the Almohad realm, it may have been made by Andalusi craftsman for a Christian patron. The lion, which served as a fountainhead, is sculpted in a highly stylized manner and its articulated tail is adjustable. Its surface is covered in incised decoration consisting of tapestry-like motifs, and a broad Kufic inscription on its side features well-wishes for its owner.{{Sfn|Lintz|Déléry|Tuil Leonetti|2014|p=390}}{{Sfn|Dodds|1992|p=270}}<ref>{{Cite web|title=Qantara - Lion with an articulated tail|url=https://www.qantara-med.org/public/show_document.php?do_id=1037|url-status=live|access-date=2021-02-21|website=www.qantara-med.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415160550/https://www.qantara-med.org/public/show_document.php?do_id=1037 |archive-date=2021-04-15 }}</ref>

Other surviving metalwork objects from the Almohad period include a series of braziers and lamps discovered in Córdoba and now kept at the Archeological Museum of Córdoba. One of them, a hexagonal brazier, features both incised and pierced decoration. Along with prominent decorative Kufic inscriptions, it has an architectural motif of [[merlon]]s resembling the decorative sawtooth-shaped merlons found along the tops of Moorish and Moroccan buildings of the same period.{{Sfn|Lintz|Déléry|Tuil Leonetti|2014|p=383}}{{Sfn|Dodds|1992|p=274}}