Ivory container from Zamora catherdral

Ivory container from Zamora catherdral

container made of ivory

This ornate container is designed with many arabesques (interlinked, flowing designs of plants and animals), and includes peacocks, gazelles, birds, and pineapples, among other things. These would have been prized game and exotic fruits in Spanish Islam, and by putting them on this decorative piece intended for the concubine of a caliph, it denotes royal/imperial wealth, alongside suras of the Koran at the top. This piece was comissioned for the concubine of the caliph of Córdoba, Spain, during the tenth century CE al-Andalusian empire.

Madinat al-Zahra

Ivory container from Zamora cathedral, 964 CE, Italian and European Art, (Inv. no. 52113) Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid, Spain

353 AH/964 CE

H; 18 cm; diam: 10.3 cm

Arabic

ivory container

H; 18 cm; diam: 10.3 cm