The Qutb Mosque in Delhi
Why was spolia used in the architecture of the Qutb Mosque? This talk examines the first congregational mosque of Delhi to find what its range of use of spolia tells us about the Ghurid attitude towards Indian art, culture, and people.
Figure 1. Delhi, Qutb Mosque, Details of spoliated columns in a gallery showing disfigured deities in their uppermost registers, with floral-vegetals, zoo-anthropomorphic faces, pitchers, and water cosmological patterns retained in their entirety below.
Photograph: Richard P. McClary.
Figure 2. Delhi, Qutb Mosque, Details of a spoliated column showing defaced spirits on the capital, with entirely retained zoo-anthropomorphic faces and water cosmological carvings on the shaft below which also possesses a recontextualised bells on chains motif.
Photograph: Richard P. McClary.
Figure 3. Delhi, Qutb Mosque, Details of the screen showing water cosmological carvings in the three central bands, with lotus vines woven into Arabic alphabets on either side.
Photograph: Richard P. McClary.