The Prophet Muhammad received his first revelation from the Archangel Gabriel in a cave in 610 AD. In 613 AD, the prophet began his public ministry—preaching his teachings of the new religion, Islam, amongst fellow Arabs. Initially, Islam spread mostly throughout the Arabian Peninsula. After Muhammad's death in 632 AD, Islam spread very quickly. Within 125 years, Islam had spread throughout North Africa, deep into Central Asia, and into parts of Europe. Some of this expansion was achieved by merchant-traders along well-established trade routes. But Islam was also established through Islamic military force—and their vigorous colonizing of foreign peoples.
The Ottomans were a powerful Islamic empire based in Anatolia (Turkey). Founded in 1299, the Ottoman Empire grew in strength through the Late Middle Ages and into the Age of Enlightenment. They captured Constantinople in 1453, changing its name to Istanbul. In 1923, the Ottoman Empire was replaced by modern Turkey.
The cast iron bookends, shown above, capture a fierce Ottoman warrior atop his rearing steed. They are crisply cast from dynamic bas relief sculpting and finished with an aged bronze patina. The bookends were made in the Twenties or Thirties, shortly after the Ottoman Empire collapsed. Click on the photo above to learn more about them.
More horse-themed bookends tomorrow and in the days to come.
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
To arrange a visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only), please call 917-446-4248.