Name of Object:

Oliphant

Location:

Stockholm, Sweden

Holding Museum:

Museum of National Antiquities (Historika Museet)

Date of Object:

Hegira 5th–6th centuries /AD 11th–12th centuries

Museum Inventory Number:

SHM 289

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Ivory; carved.

Dimensions:

Length 52.5 cm, diameter 11 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Fatimid

Provenance:

Southern Italy or Sicily.

Description:

With regard to its decoration, this completely carved ivory horn belongs to the largest group of Islamic ivory horns. The even, deeply carved decoration consists of three sections. A row of medallions runs along each of the two openings of the horn. In the middle section, five rows of medallions are arranged alternating and interconnected with circles and rhombs. The medallions show repeated hares, lions, other quadrupeds and birds, except the peacock occurs only once. All animals are shown running to the right. The right hind legs of the quadrupeds and the tails of the birds protrude outside the medallion frame in which they are placed. Two plain bands flanked by arabesque tendrils mark the places where the shoulder straps used for carrying the horn were attached.
About 30 specimens of these carved ivory horns have survived, though exclusively in collections located outside the Islamic world. The horns are believed to have been made for European patrons, but are attributed to Fatimid craftsmen working in the artistic centres of the Norman kingdom of southern Italy and Sicily. The horns also show close parallels in style and iconography to the ivory caskets made in Sicily and southern Italy during the same period. The ivory used for these objects was most probably imported from North Africa.
The term oliphant occurs for the first time in the French poem of 'Chanson de Roland' (probably written 1075–1100). The poem describes the horn that Roland, commander of the Frankish king, used when he called Charlemagne (747–814) to come to Roncesvalles to help him against the advancing Muslims. Above all, ivory horns were symbols of honour and were used by dignitaries as signal horns. Ivory horns decorated with representations of animals were possibly used for hunting, though it is not known in what way.

Carved ivory horn called an oliphant. In three sections vine scrolls and rows of medallions cover the whole surface. The medallions show animals: hares, lions, quadrupeds, birds and a peacock. Horns such as this were symbols of honour and used as signal horns.

How date and origin were established:

A carved horn showing close parallels to this horn, sold by Bukowski's in Stockholm in 1999 and now in the National Museum in Qatar, was dated by radiocarbon to within 45 years either side of 452 / 1060.

How Object was obtained:

Most likely brought to Sweden in 1632 as part of the booty of the Thirty Years War (1618–48).

How provenance was established:

After Kühnel 1971, cat. no. 70 (see Bibliography), who attributed this horn to the 'Saracen group' on the basis of the medallion decor. For this group he assumed southern Italy to be the place of manufacture.

Selected bibliography:

Kühnel, E., Die Islamischen Elfenbeinskulpturen, VIII–XIII. Jahrhundert, Berlin, 1971.
Sievernich, S. and H. Budde, H. (eds.), Europa und der Orient: 800–1900, Exhibition catalogue, Gütersloh, 1989, pp.537–42.
Shalem, A., The Oliphant: Islamic Objects in Historical Context, Leiden, 2004.
Tegnér, G., “Den GÅtfulla Olifanten”, in Sverige och den Islamiska Världen: Ett Svenskt Kulturarv, (ed. K. Ådahl), Värnamo, 2002, pp.186–9.

Citation of this web page:

Friederike Voigt "Oliphant" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2025.
https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;se;Mus01_A;30;en

Prepared by: Friederike VoigtFriederike Voigt

Friederike Voigt has an MA in Iranian studies, history of art and social science and is currently working on her doctoral thesis on wall tiles in architectural decoration of Qajar Iran. Since 2004 she has been a project-related curator at the Museum for Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm for Museum With No Frontiers. She studied at Humboldt University in Berlin, at the University of Tehran and archaeology at the University of Halle-Wittenberg. She taught Persian language at several universities in Germany. She was an assistant curator at the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Cultures at the Museum of Ethnology, State Museums of Berlin. Her main fields of interest are the material culture of Iran, especially of the Qajar period, and contemporary Iranian art.
Copyedited by: Monica Allen

MWNF Working Number: SE 32