WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN, 12TH CENTURY

An intriguing feature of the present bracelet are the three cloisonné enamel panels. Unlike champlevé enamels, which are applied directly to the metal, cloisonné enamels can be set in a way similar to gems, with the additional benefit that such settings could be performed without heating the object. Consequently, such pre-made enamel panels are thought to have been popular trade goods in their own right, and were widely traded across the Mediterranean (Michael Spink and Jack Ogden, The Art of Adornment: Jewellery of the Islamic Lands. Part One, London: Azimuth Editions, 2013, p.130). The round enamel panel is inscribed with 'God' in mirrored ornamental kufic and forms the primary decorative motif on the present bracelet. A rare survival of its type, it finds its closest parallel in a round enamel panel inscribed 'God is the best protector' that was found in 1918 at Fustat (op.cit., p. 131; Cairo; Museum of Islamic Art. acc.no. 4337).

Whether the Fustat panel was made locally remains an open question as comparable jewellery was found in the ruins of the Andalusian palace of Madina al-Zahra, near Cordoba (op.cit., pp.137-9). Manuel Keene, in an unpublished essay on the present bracelet, attributes it to Norman Sicily on the basis of the execution of the enamel panels, which do not comfortably sit alongside known Fatimid, Spanish or Moroccan enamelwork, but show sufficient mastery of the Arabic script to suggest Muslim or recently Muslim centre. The uniqueness of the bracelet within the existing body of 12th century jewellery furthermore supports an attribution to an otherwise unattested centre. Here, Sicily is all the more likely due to its Byzantine heritage.

The 11th century Book of Gifts and Rarities underscores the great value that was placed on enamelled gold work in this period. The anonymous author relates that the Byzantine Emperor Michael IV (r.1034-41) presented the mother of the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir Billah (r.1036-94) with "five gold bracelets inlaid with enamel (mujra bi-zujaj) in five colours: deep red, snow white, jet black, sky blue, and deep azure" (Ghada al-Hijjawi al-Qaddumi, Book of Gifts and Rarities: Selections Compiled in the Fifteenth Century from an Eleventh-Century Manuscript on Gifts and Treasures, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996, pp.113-4).

A technical analysis supporting a 12th century date and attribution to the Mediterranean is available upon request.