Ivory casket with painted figural decoration
Berlin, Germany
Museum of Islamic Art at the Pergamon Museum
About Museum of Islamic Art at the Pergamon Museum, Berlin
Museum of Arts and Crafts, Berlin, Germany
Hegira 6th century / AD 12th century
KFMV 60
Ivory, wood, various paintings.
Height 16.5 cm, length 35 cm, width 19 cm
Normans in Sicily, southern Italy
Sicily or southern Italy (Siculo-Arabic).
This unusually richly painted ivory casket belongs to a group of larger and smaller caskets that were made by Muslim workshops, probably in Palermo, Sicily, as commissions from the Norman court. They have appeared in numerous collections and have been frequently found as part of the treasure belonging to churches, where they were used to contain relics. The casket’s framework is made of wood pieces, onto which thin sheets of ivory have been attached. The painted decoration on these ivory sheets has black contours and is emphasised in brown, green and gold. The ivory sheets are attached to the wooden framework with gilded brass buckles; the casket also possessed a lock that was replaced at a later date. The inside was once most probably upholstered with a textile. The painted decoration over the front edge of the lid reveals an Arabic inscription in kufic script. The inscription includes good wishes for a patron whose name is not mentioned. The paintings on the casket’s front are composed of large medallions involving highly stylised tendrils, which are framed on either side by birds, including peacocks and hoopoes. Stylised lions are painted over the top of the lid and along the back, along with hunting dogs and gazelles. A female harp player is depicted on both of the casket’s narrow sides; her triangular harp is representative of a type of harp that originated in Egypt. This detail is indicative of southern Italy’s unique cultural scene, in which Fatimid styles were blended with European creations. The fine quality of painted decoration displayed on this ivory casket demonstrates that it would not be out of place in a royal court.
View Short DescriptionDifferent types of caskets with painted decoration are known from southern Italy where they were probably used in noble families. Repetitive Arabic inscriptions as on this casket as well as freely drawn animals and musicians are indications of the strong Islamic influence in the Mediterranean area.
Both in its painting and in its inscription, the ivory casket appears to be a work commissioned by the Norman court. It has been suggested that this group of work originates from some date within the 12th century.
Transferred from the Museum of Arts and Crafts, Berlin, Germany in 1906 as a long-term loan.
It is thought that the painted ivory caskets were made in a workshop in Sicily, possibly in Palermo.
Budde, H. and Sievernich, G. (eds.), Europa und der Orient, Catalogue, Gütersloh-Munich, 1989, no. 4/16, figs. 242, 642.
Cott, P. B., Siculo-Arabic Ivories, Princeton, 1939, no. 33, plate 16.
Museum für Islamische Kunst, Catalogue, 1971–9, no. 262.
Jens Kröger "Ivory casket with painted figural decoration" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;de;Mus01;13;en
Prepared by: Jens KrögerJens Kröger
Jens Kröger is a historian of Islamic art and archaeology. He studied European art history and Ancient Near Eastern archaeology at the Free University of Berlin and obtained his Ph.D. in 1978 on Sasanian and early Islamic stucco (Sasanidischer Stuckdekor, Mainz: von Zabern, 1982). As a curator at the Museum of Islamic Art at the Pergamon Museum, Berlin, he has participated in numerous exhibitions and published on the subject of pre-Islamic and Islamic art, including Nishapur: Glass of the Early Islamic Period (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995), and edited Islamische Kunst in Berliner Sammlungen (Berlin, 2004).
Translation by: Maria Vlotides, Brigitte Finkbeiner
Translation copyedited by: Monica Allen
MWNF Working Number: GE 18
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