Fatimid Ivories in Ifriqiya

The Madrid and Mantua Caskets between Construction and Decoration

Authors

  • Silvia Armando The Metropolitan Museum of Art

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jia.v2i2.30167

Keywords:

al-Mu‘izz li-Dīn Allah;, Ivory caskets, Fatimid ivories, Fatimid Ifriqiya, al-Mansuriyya, Cairo, Mantua

Abstract

Debates on Fatimid ivory production have traditionally focused on Egypt: many of the artefacts considered as Fatimid have been ascribed to 11th–12th century Cairo, while attributions of provenance often oscillate between Egypt and Southern Italy. This paper aims to question and to broaden this geographical and chronological frame, focusing on two ivory caskets which have been often excluded by these narratives. One casket, preserved in the Museo Arqueológico Nacional in Madrid, features an inscription pointing to al-Mansuriyya (current Tunisia) as a place of production and to a date in the reign of the caliph al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah (952–975 CE). A second box is preserved in the Museo Diocesano Francesco Gonzaga in Mantua, and its attribution has often been debated by scholars. Previous and recent scholarship on the two caskets are surveyed, while a detailed analysis of their technology of manufacture and decoration brings to light strong similarities, suggesting that they were produced in the same place. Comparisons with a wide range of ivory boxes from and beyond the medieval Mediterranean reveal technical variety, help us to identify interesting parallels, and define the uniqueness of the Madrid and the Mantua caskets, which thus emerge as key-artefacts in the panorama of Fatimid Ifriqiyan artistic production.

Author Biography

  • Silvia Armando, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

    Silvia Armando received her PhD in Art History from the Universtità della Tuscia (Viterbo) in 2012 with a dissertation on the so-called “Siculo-Arabic” ivories. Her main fields of interest are the cultural and artistic interchanges in the medieval Mediterranean - with a special focus on material culture of Norman Sicily - and the historiography of Islamic art in the 19th and 20th centuries. She is currently working on the ‘Siculo-Arabic’ painted combs in cooperation with the project Die Elfenbeinkämme des Früh- und Hochmittelalters hosted by the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte in Munich. Dr. Armando has taught Islamic Art History at the Università di Urbino, and has held seminars in the Università della Sapienza, Università degli Studi di Bologna and King Saud University in Riyadh.

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Published

2016-03-15

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Armando, S. (2016). Fatimid Ivories in Ifriqiya: The Madrid and Mantua Caskets between Construction and Decoration. Journal of Islamic Archaeology, 2(2), 195-228. https://doi.org/10.1558/jia.v2i2.30167

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