Casket thumbnail 1
Casket thumbnail 2
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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Furniture, Room 133, The Dr Susan Weber Gallery

Casket

1400-1450 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The design on this fragmentary ten-sided casket consists of an interlacing geometric pattern based on eight-pointed stars. Green stars are set at the heart of an intricate mosaic of minute squares and rhomboids, of different-coloured woods and bone, both in its natural colour and stained green with copper compounds. In the places where the decoration is missing, we can see that it was stuck directly to the surface of the wood, and that each tiny element was individually attached in the manner of a mosaic.

This decorative technique was a characteristic of woodwork made in Islamic Spain during the Nasrid period (1238-1492). The technique is called taracea in Spanish, deriving from the Arabic word tarsi‘, meaning ‘incrustation’. The same word became tarsia in Italian, indicating that it was also introduced to the language via the original Arabic. The technique that developed in Italy, when intarsia began to be made there in the mid-fourteenth century, was slightly different. This involved forming a block from rods of different materials (often including silver) shaped into triangles or squares; these were glued together longitudinally, and thin tiles were sawn off the end. These tiles were then stuck to a wooden surface, which was either at, or in which a hollow had been carved to receive them, in the shape of the nished design (probably the origin of the term ‘in-tarsia’). It is highly likely that the technique of intarsia was introduced into Italy from Islamic Spain, following a pattern parallel to that of lustre ceramics that were commissioned by Italian patrons direct from Spanish potteries.

The technique of sawing tiles from rods of clustered materials was also practised in Nasrid woodwork: a pair of cupboard doors in the Museo de la Alhambra in Granada (inv. 190) combines both techniques, with the more labour-intensive mosaic incrustation used all over the exterior face of the doors and their surround, and intarsia used sparingly on the less visible interior face. It was rare to use this decorative technique for something so large as a pair of doors: normally taracea was used on smaller-scale objects, especially caskets.

These doors came from the Palacio de los Infantes (Palace of the Princes), a large residence in the vicinity of the Great Mosque of Granada by the powerful Venegas family, who were close to the Nasrid court. Their palace was probably built in the early fteenth century, coinciding with the height of this family’s inuence. The extremely ne decoration of the doors provides a catalogue of Nasrid taracea motifs, and by comparison, the V&A’s casket can reasonably be attributed to Granada during the rst half of the fteenth century.

The V&A’s casket is a unique example of a taracea object with this shape. Other hexagonal or octagonal caskets are known, some with incrusted decoration. But the V&A casket is also unusual for its large size, which makes it less portable than the other similar objects which are smaller and also probably later in date. The lip around the top edge of the casket shows that it was once fitted with a lid. Two slotted panels made of bone are inserted into one of the interior walls of the casket, indicating where a compartment may once have been fitted. Since no other parallels exist, it is not currently possible to suggest the original function of this casket.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Wood covered in micromosaic decoration in bone and other woods
Brief description
Ten-sided casket, Spain, Granada (probably), Nasrid period, 1400-1450
Physical description
Ten-sided casket with fragmentary decoration in incrustation of different-coloured woods and bone, both in its natural colour and stained green with copper compounds.
Dimensions
  • Length: 16.2cm
  • Width: 24.1cm
Styles
Gallery label
Casket 1400–1500 Probably Spain (Granada) Carcase: softwood with walnut additions Veneer: bone and various woods on paper backing Studs: silver Traces of paint Given by Monsieur Stanislas Baron Museum no. 270-1895 The geometric decoration on this casket is only 1.5mm thick. Before being glued in place, it was composed on paper, traces of which are visible where losses have occurred. The design consists of at least seven pre-formed motifs, made using the sliced-bundle technique (see right). Tiny gaps are filled individually. (01/12/2012)
Credit line
Given by Monsieur Stanislas Baron
Object history
Given by Stanislas Baron (RP 14490/1895).
"Box of wood, ten-sided; the sides are overlaid with a lattice work pattern forming variously-shaped compartments, filled in with stars and other geometrical devices in bone, partly stained green, and woods of different colours. Hispano-Moresque; 15th century."
"Much dilapidated"


Summary
The design on this fragmentary ten-sided casket consists of an interlacing geometric pattern based on eight-pointed stars. Green stars are set at the heart of an intricate mosaic of minute squares and rhomboids, of different-coloured woods and bone, both in its natural colour and stained green with copper compounds. In the places where the decoration is missing, we can see that it was stuck directly to the surface of the wood, and that each tiny element was individually attached in the manner of a mosaic.

This decorative technique was a characteristic of woodwork made in Islamic Spain during the Nasrid period (1238-1492). The technique is called taracea in Spanish, deriving from the Arabic word tarsi‘, meaning ‘incrustation’. The same word became tarsia in Italian, indicating that it was also introduced to the language via the original Arabic. The technique that developed in Italy, when intarsia began to be made there in the mid-fourteenth century, was slightly different. This involved forming a block from rods of different materials (often including silver) shaped into triangles or squares; these were glued together longitudinally, and thin tiles were sawn off the end. These tiles were then stuck to a wooden surface, which was either at, or in which a hollow had been carved to receive them, in the shape of the nished design (probably the origin of the term ‘in-tarsia’). It is highly likely that the technique of intarsia was introduced into Italy from Islamic Spain, following a pattern parallel to that of lustre ceramics that were commissioned by Italian patrons direct from Spanish potteries.

The technique of sawing tiles from rods of clustered materials was also practised in Nasrid woodwork: a pair of cupboard doors in the Museo de la Alhambra in Granada (inv. 190) combines both techniques, with the more labour-intensive mosaic incrustation used all over the exterior face of the doors and their surround, and intarsia used sparingly on the less visible interior face. It was rare to use this decorative technique for something so large as a pair of doors: normally taracea was used on smaller-scale objects, especially caskets.

These doors came from the Palacio de los Infantes (Palace of the Princes), a large residence in the vicinity of the Great Mosque of Granada by the powerful Venegas family, who were close to the Nasrid court. Their palace was probably built in the early fteenth century, coinciding with the height of this family’s inuence. The extremely ne decoration of the doors provides a catalogue of Nasrid taracea motifs, and by comparison, the V&A’s casket can reasonably be attributed to Granada during the rst half of the fteenth century.

The V&A’s casket is a unique example of a taracea object with this shape. Other hexagonal or octagonal caskets are known, some with incrusted decoration. But the V&A casket is also unusual for its large size, which makes it less portable than the other similar objects which are smaller and also probably later in date. The lip around the top edge of the casket shows that it was once fitted with a lid. Two slotted panels made of bone are inserted into one of the interior walls of the casket, indicating where a compartment may once have been fitted. Since no other parallels exist, it is not currently possible to suggest the original function of this casket.
Bibliographic reference
Mariam Rosser-Owen, Islamic Arts from Spain, London, 2010, p.64.
Collection
Accession number
270-1895

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
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