Lot 22
22
A LARGE CHEST MADE FROM MERENID WOODEN BEAMS
A LARGE CHEST MADE FROM MERENID WOODEN BEAMS

SPAIN OR MOROCCO, 14TH CENTURY OR LATER

Details
A LARGE CHEST MADE FROM MERENID WOODEN BEAMS
SPAIN OR MOROCCO, 14TH CENTURY OR LATER
The chest with hinged coffered lid and large brass lock plate, the body formed of a number of beams, some decorated with kufic or thuluth calligraphy or cusped arches filled with floral motifs, the sides of the coffered lid with a geometric interlace based on stellar motifs, slight damages
37¼ x 27 x 19½in. (94.6 x 68.5 x 49.5cm.)
Engraved
Along the top and back repeated in cursive, al-'afiya al-baqiya, 'Perpetual health'
On the front, in kufic, al-'afiya, 'Health'

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Lot Essay

According to some sources when the Muslim population of Al-Andalus was expelled following the Reconquista, several of the departing families created chests like ours carved from the beams in their homes in order to transport all of their portable property. It is also possible that our casket was constructed from carved beams sourced in Morocco. The stellar motif found above the lock plate on our casket is quite similar to a carved beam in the Batha Museum in Fez which is dated to the 13th century (Catherine Cambazard-Amahan, Le decor sur bois dans l'architecture de Fes, Paris, 1989, p.150, pl.XXXI).

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