Casket

Physical description

Wooden casket, painted red and covered with pierced ivory panels (possibly Ayyubid?) taken from a larger object such as a door or piece of furniture.

Place of Origin

Italy (South, made)

Date

13th century (made)

Artist/maker

Unknown (production)

Materials and Techniques

Carved and painted wood with applied pierced and ivory panels

Dimensions

Height: 9.5 cm, Length: 21 cm, Width: 18 cm

Historical context note

Dr M Wackernagel (Die Plastik des 11te & 12te Jahrhunderts in Apulien, 1911, p. 114) compares the carving with work of the eighth and ninth centuries at Cordova, but though apparently the motives are based on early Saracenic or Mesopotamian art, the actual work seems to belong to a considerably later period. A box in the Museum at Madrid shows some resemblance in style (J Ferrandis, Marfiles...Espanoles, 1928, Pl. XXII). Mr Stanley Clarke went further and considered this to have been made up of panels formerly ornamenting a door from Sri Lanka, about 1800. (30/08/1923).

Descriptive line

Casket, wood with ivory panels, by an unknown artist, possibly South Italy, 13th century

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1860. In: Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, Arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol I. London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 24
Longhurst, Margaret H. Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory. Part II. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1929, p. 118

Production Note

The style of carving is possibly Ayyubid

Materials

Wood; Ivory

Techniques

Painting; Carving

Subjects depicted

Birds; Animals; Lions; Peacocks; Griffins

Categories

Containers; Sculpture

Collection code

SCP