Feb 24, 2025
Pyxis, ivory with chased and nielloed silver gilt mounts, 966 CE/355 AH, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, ISAW no. 147.
"Pyxides were used as containers for jewelry and perfumes, and commonly made by sawing and hollowing out a section of elephant tusk. The dense, symmetrical, repeating patterns on this example testify to the skill of the ivory carvers at Madinat al-Zahra. Scrolling vines, flowers, and palmettes exhibit the characteristic arabesque and vegetal patterns of Islamic art and are paralleled on many of the carved wall reliefs and column capitals from the palace. The mirrored pairs of parrots, gazelles, and lions provide a sense of whimsy and may also allude to the fauna of the Umayyads’ ancestral home in Syria."