Name of Object:

Panels of a small chest

Location:

Moura, Beja, Portugal

Holding Museum:

Moura Municipal Museum

About Moura Municipal Museum, Moura.

Current Owner:

Moura Town Council

Date of Object:

Hegira 596–629 / AD 1200–32

Museum Inventory Number:

s/n

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Painted panels made of bone.

Dimensions:

Height 6.2 cm, width 12.8 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Final phase of the Almohad period

Provenance:

These panels, found in the castle of Moura, were possibly made in the region of Granada, Spain.

Description:

Panels made of bone which were used to cover a small chest. No vestiges have survived of the chest itself, which was probably made of wood. The two sets of panels have identical decoration, are painted delicately and with great simplicity.
By comparison with other known pieces, this appears to be one of the examples with the plainest decoration (it might even be said to have a certain primitivism), in the context of Islamic ivory and bone objects from the western Mediterranean.
The designs are simple: the object is distinguished by a rose of interlaced patterns in the centre with human figures on either side (one of these is barely visible). The circles of the roses were drawn with a pair of compasses, and the figures then outlined with Indian ink or with lines of manganese using a paintbrush, and the rest filled with pigments.
The anthropomorphic figures are represented in two dimensions, without any modelling of light or shade, and in a schematic style: the eyes are two small circles, and the direction of their gaze is shown by the relative position of the iris to the eyebrows. The mouth is symbolised by a single thin line.
The figures on this piece seem to be wearing long garments of oriental tradition – possibly the kaftan, a long silk, velvet or satin tunic which went down to the knees or ankles, with long sleeves and open at the front. The style of the figures, with thick arched eyebrows and a long nose, is also an archetypal representation of men from the Near East.
At the far ends of the composition are two groups of plant forms, which seem to be an attempt at a realistic representation, common in all Western Islamic art, the generalised use of which led to a certain conventionality, making their identification easier. Long flexible stems topped by globular forms are combined, in rows above one another, with lotus flowers surrounded by digitate palmettes.

Bone plaques dating to the end of the Islamic presence (AH 596–629 / AD 1200–32) thought to have been used to cover a small wooden chest. The different motifs (human, plant and geometric) suggest it was made in the peninsula by a craftsman familiar with eastern influences.

How date and origin were established:

Chronology was established by means of a comparative study of this piece with similar specimens from Spain, which suggests dates from the 7th–8th / 13th–14th centuries. The presence of the anthropomorphic elements (practically identical to those of pieces with scraffito design from Murcia from the first half of the 7th / 13th century, and the actual date of the reconquest of Moura allows us to put forward the beginning of the 7th / 13th century as a plausible date for the manufacture of this object.

How Object was obtained:

Archaeological excavations at the castle of Moura (1980 or 1981).

How provenance was established:

Found in situ.

Selected bibliography:

Portugal Islâmico: Os últimos Sinais do Mediterrâneo, Lisbon, 1998, p.103.
Macias, S., “A Arqueta Pintada de época Islâmica do Museu de Moura”, in Actas das V Jornadas Arqueológicas (Lisboa, 1993), Vol. 2, Lisbon, 1994, pp.295–8.
Macias, S. and Torres, C., O Legado Islâmico em Portugal, Lisbon, 1998, p.168.

Citation of this web page:

Santiago Macias "Panels of a small chest" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;pt;Mus01_C;30;en

Prepared by: Santiago MaciasSantiago Macias

Santiago Macias é licenciado em História (variante de História da Arte) pela Universidade de Lisboa e doutorado em História pela Université Lumière – Lyon 2. Investigador do Campo Arqueológico de Mértola e técnico superior da Câmara Municipal de Mértola desde 1991. Foi comissário científico das exposições “Portugal Islâmico” (Museu Nacional de Arqueologia, Lisboa – 1998) e “Portugal-Marrocos” (Musée d'Art Contemporain, Tanger – 1999). É membro do comité científico do itinerário/exposição “Terras da Moura Encantada” (Lisboa, PICT e Museu Sem Fronteiras, 1999/2000). Recebeu em 2001 o Prémio Rómulo de Carvalho pelo livro “O legado islâmico em Portugal” (escrito em colaboração com Cláudio Torres). Foi responsável pela coordenação do projecto do Museu Islâmico de Mértola (2001). É responsável editorial da revista “Arqueologia Medieval”. Dedica-se ao estudo do período islâmico em Portugal, com particular incidência nas questões de urbanismo e habitat.
Translation by: Gilla Evans
Translation copyedited by: Monica Allen

MWNF Working Number: PT 40