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Pyxis
unknown - Enlarge image
Pyxis
- Place of origin:
Madinat al-Zahra, Spain (probably, made)
Cordoba, Spain (probably, made) - Date:
ca. 964 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Carved ivory, with nielloed metal mounts
- Museum number:
217-1865
- Gallery location:
Islamic Middle East, room 42, case 2E
This small ivory box is a pyxis. This type of box has a cylindrical body and a domed lid. This example has carved openwork decoration of stylised plants and four eagles in a heraldic pose. Ivories of this kind were produced in Spain during the 10th and 11th centuries. At this time most of the country was under the rule of Muslim Arabs of the Umayyad dynasty.
According to the inscription around the lid, this example was made at the command of the Umayyad caliph al-Hakam II (ruled 961- 976). It is one of only two surviving objects known to have been made for him. The chief eunuch, Durri al-Saghir, who supervised the work, was also responsible for another object, known as the Zamora pyxis. Al-Hakam commissioned this second piece in 964 for his favourite wife, Subh. It was probably a gift to celebrate the birth of their son in the previous year. The inscriptions on the two ivories are very similar, suggesting they were commissioned as a pair. The pyxis in the V&A has unusual openwork carving on its lid. It was presumably designed to hold perfumed substances, and the scent would have wafted through the holes. The metal mounts for the hasp and the hinge were probably added at a later date. They are decorated with niello. This is a technique in which the decorator uses black inlay to fill the hollow design in a metal surface.
