Panel from a Rectangular Box

Unknown

10th–early 11th century · Ivory; carved, inlaid with stone with traces of pigment · Islamic Art

This panel, carved from a single piece of ivory in a twice-repeating pattern, once adorned the side of a rectangular casket. The complexity of its decoration as well as the attention to details, such as the eyes of humans and animals, which were drilled and filled with minute quartz stones, demonstrate the refinement and the accomplishment of the caliphal ivory-carving workshop.

Artist

Unknown

Date

10th–early 11th century

Medium

Ivory; carved, inlaid with stone with traces of pigment

Department

Islamic Art

Credit line

John Stewart Kennedy Fund, 1913