SICULO-ARABIC, 12TH CENTURY

Details

A RECTANGULAR GILT-COPPER-MOUNTED IVORY CASKET
SICULO-ARABIC, 12TH CENTURY
With hinged lid and double loop handles to the ends, decorated with repeating red and black circular motifs, the gilt-bronze key attached to the lid handle by a chain, on gilt-bronze bun feet; minor losses and replacements; wear to the gilding; the lock lacking
7¼ x 5 1/8 x 4 7/8 in. (18.4 x 13 x 12.3 cm.)

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
Riyadh, King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies, The Unity of Islamic Art, 0. Hoare ed., 1985.
R. Randall, Masterpieces of Ivory from the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 1985, no. 229, pp. 151, 156-157.
T. Higuera, Objetos e Imangenes de al-Andalus, Madrid, 1994, n. d., p. 30.

Special Notice

Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

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Lot Essay

During the 12th century Norman occupation of Sicily, Islamic artists thought to be working in Palermo produced a wide variety of objects in ivory, mainly for the European market and often for Christian use (Randall, op. cit., p. 151). A very similar casket to the present lot, although of slightly different proportions was included in the 1985 exhibition The Unity of Islam (op. cit., no. 174, pp. 196-7), and is also attributable to a Sicilian workshop at around the same date. It shares with the present example the use of red or black concentric drilled roundels, which were often used to disguise the ends of small ivory pegs linking the panels, as well as being for purely decorative reasons. Another casket with Arabic inscription around the cover and with similar mounts to those found here (Instituto Valencia de Don Juan, Madrid, see Higuera, loc. cit.) is indicative of the geographical spread of such pieces.

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