Four ivory panels carved with arabesque, foliage and scrolls, Egypt (probably Cairo), 1250-1350.

Four rectangular plaques carved from solid ivory, and decorated with floral scrollwork, carved in two levels of deep relief. The borders are inlaid with very narrow bands of a dark wood (perhaps ebony); traces of coloured pigments are also visible in the background of the carving.

The style of the designs on these plaques and the double relief of its carving is very close to the Hama basin (Museum number 335-1903) which is dated 1277. It is also similar to the stucco carving inside the Sultan Hasan mosque in Cairo, dated 1350.

PANELS, four. Ivory, carved with arabesque designs in two reliefs. From Cairo. Saracenic. Probably 14th centy. H. 13 ½ in., W. 2 5/8 in. Bought (St. Maurice Collⁿ), 20l., the four.
Description taken from the ‘List of Objects in the Art Division, South Kensington Museum acquired during the Year 1884’. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1885. p. 83

Bought from the collection of Gaston de Saint-Maurice (1831-1905) in 1884. Saint-Maurice displayed his extensive art collection at the 1878 Paris exhibition, in a gallery entitled L'Egypte des Khalifes. This was part of an official sequence of displays celebrating the history of Egypt, presented by the Egyptian state at this international event. Saint-Maurice held a position at the Khedival court, and had lived in Cairo in 1868-1878. Following the exhibition, Saint-Maurice offered his collection for sale to the South Kensington Museum (today the V&A).

These ivory plaques are carved from solid ivory, and decorated with arabesque scrollwork, carved in two levels of deep relief. The borders are inlaid with very narrow bands of a dark wood (perhaps ebony); traces of coloured pigments are also visible in the background of the carving.

Plaques like these were originally inlaid into a wooden framework, as on the wooden minbars (pulpits) which survive from Egypt (for example, Qa'itbay's minbar in the V&A collection, Museum number 1050-1869). However, plaques of an identical size and decoration to these are inlaid into the altar screen of al-Mu'allaqah ('The Hanging Church'), one of Cairo's most famous Coptic churches. Other Coptic churches in Cairo contain examples of wooden furniture with inlaid ivory plaques, decorated in a very similar floral style to these plaques, though they often include an equal-armed Coptic cross within the decoration.

The style of the designs on these plaques and the double relief of its carving is very close to the Hama basin (Museum no. 335-1903) which is dated 1277. It is also similar to the stucco carving inside the Sultan Hasan mosque in Cairo, dated 1350.

Ivory panels of this type were set into wooden frames as part of architectural fittings or large pieces of furniture. These examples have arabesques delicately carved in two levels of relief. Originally, the contrast would have been heightened by painting them different colours.

885 to C-1884