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Lot Essay
This octagonal pyxis belongs to a small group which have generally been attributed to Nasrid al-Andalus (1230-1492). It is decorated in a particularly intricate technique of micromosaic known as taracea (which derives from tarsi’, the Arabic word for incrustation) in which tiny geometric tesserae of different-coloured woods and ivory or bone (both in its natural colour or stained) were assembled to create kaleidoscopic patterns. They were principally overlaid rather than inlaid. Where the mosaic is lacking on our box we can see that it was stuck directly to the surface of the wood with each tiny element being individually applied, in a technique characteristic of the work of the early Nasrid period. This differs from the tarsia technique used in Italy in the mid-fourteenth century, and indeed also Spain but more commonly into the sixteenth century (see the following lot) where blocks were formed from rods of different materials joined longitudinally and then sliced to produce tiles that were applied to the surface of an object (Rosser-Owen, 2010).
What is particularly unusual in this fine box is the bold use of colour – a bright blue is used alongside the more commonly encountered green and the variously coloured woods – creating a wonderfully polychromatic effect. Very few other inlaid pieces from this period employ this strong colour palette which recalls the Nasrid tile work at the Alhambra - see for instance a mosaic tile panel from the Mexuar, 14th century, published in Dodds, 1992, no.119, pp.374-75.
There is one pyxis in the Alhambra Museum, catalogued there as 15th century, that is so close in colour and overall design to ours that it must have been produced in the same original workshop (https://www.alhambra-patronato.es/caja-taracea). Not only are each of the eight sides decorated with similar geometric panels bordered by reciprocal triangle borders as ours, but the sides of the lid and lower borders of the box are also both formed of similar tight chequerboard design to ours. They also share a similar upper border of dentate merlon motifs. These can also be seen on a 14th century Nasrid writing desk in the Museo Arquelógico Nacional, Madrid (Dodds, 1992, no.53, pp.268-69).
A number of related boxes, similar to ours but without such strong use of blue, and with an ivory openwork lattice decorating each of the eight sides, are known. One of these recently sold at Sotheby’s, 10 June 2020, lot 87. Like ours these boxes have geometric interlace inlaid on their undersides. The others of that group include:
1. Insiuto de Valencia de Don Juan, Madrid, purchased in Burgos, inv.no.4867 (published Galán y Galindo, 2005, vol.II, pp.151-52, cat.07051)
2. The David Collection, Copenhagen, inv..no ½017
3. Whereabouts unknown, formerly in the collection of Miquel y Badía, Barcelona (published Galán y Galindo, 2005, vol.II, p.153, cat.07052)
4. León, Private Collection (Silva Santa Cruz, 2015, fig.1, p.236)
In his catalogue entry for the Sotheby’s pyxis, Julian Raby convincingly re-attributes this group (including the Alhambra Museum box), from the fourteenth/fifteenth century as they are traditionally catalogued, to the twelfth/thirteenth century. This is partly on the basis of a carbon date test that accompanied the Sotheby’s pyxis (giving a date of 970-1032 AD with 95% confidence). His argument however is more heavily based on the apparent vacuum in production between the 12th century and the later Nasrid period. The technique of taracea was used in decoration throughout Spain and North Africa, appearing in the minbar of the Great Mosque of Cordoba on its enlargement under al-Hakim II in the tenth century. Caliphal marquetry workshops then continued to execute court commissions under the Almoravids and the Almohads and contributed to the splendour of the minbars produced for the Kutubiyya Mosque in Marrakesh, 1125-30 AD and the Qarawiyyin Mosque in Fez, AH 538/1144 AD (both made on the order of the Almoravid Sultan ‘Ali bin Yusuf bin Tashufin (r.1106-43)) amongst others (Dodds, 1992, p.373). This indicates that Andalusi craftsmen were producing this type of work in the early twelfth century and that they were exporting their craft to Morocco.
The use of these pyxis is unknown. Similar metal containers are generally thought to have been used as inkwells (see for example one in the David Collection, inv.no.16/2016) and a number of ivory examples, attributed either to Mamluk Egypt or Spain, for aromatics (see the David Collection, inv.no.25/1999). Whatever the contents, the meticulous and refined workmanship would suggest that the contents were valuable and deserving of the intricate beautiful presentation seen here.
What is particularly unusual in this fine box is the bold use of colour – a bright blue is used alongside the more commonly encountered green and the variously coloured woods – creating a wonderfully polychromatic effect. Very few other inlaid pieces from this period employ this strong colour palette which recalls the Nasrid tile work at the Alhambra - see for instance a mosaic tile panel from the Mexuar, 14th century, published in Dodds, 1992, no.119, pp.374-75.
There is one pyxis in the Alhambra Museum, catalogued there as 15th century, that is so close in colour and overall design to ours that it must have been produced in the same original workshop (https://www.alhambra-patronato.es/caja-taracea). Not only are each of the eight sides decorated with similar geometric panels bordered by reciprocal triangle borders as ours, but the sides of the lid and lower borders of the box are also both formed of similar tight chequerboard design to ours. They also share a similar upper border of dentate merlon motifs. These can also be seen on a 14th century Nasrid writing desk in the Museo Arquelógico Nacional, Madrid (Dodds, 1992, no.53, pp.268-69).
A number of related boxes, similar to ours but without such strong use of blue, and with an ivory openwork lattice decorating each of the eight sides, are known. One of these recently sold at Sotheby’s, 10 June 2020, lot 87. Like ours these boxes have geometric interlace inlaid on their undersides. The others of that group include:
1. Insiuto de Valencia de Don Juan, Madrid, purchased in Burgos, inv.no.4867 (published Galán y Galindo, 2005, vol.II, pp.151-52, cat.07051)
2. The David Collection, Copenhagen, inv..no ½017
3. Whereabouts unknown, formerly in the collection of Miquel y Badía, Barcelona (published Galán y Galindo, 2005, vol.II, p.153, cat.07052)
4. León, Private Collection (Silva Santa Cruz, 2015, fig.1, p.236)
In his catalogue entry for the Sotheby’s pyxis, Julian Raby convincingly re-attributes this group (including the Alhambra Museum box), from the fourteenth/fifteenth century as they are traditionally catalogued, to the twelfth/thirteenth century. This is partly on the basis of a carbon date test that accompanied the Sotheby’s pyxis (giving a date of 970-1032 AD with 95% confidence). His argument however is more heavily based on the apparent vacuum in production between the 12th century and the later Nasrid period. The technique of taracea was used in decoration throughout Spain and North Africa, appearing in the minbar of the Great Mosque of Cordoba on its enlargement under al-Hakim II in the tenth century. Caliphal marquetry workshops then continued to execute court commissions under the Almoravids and the Almohads and contributed to the splendour of the minbars produced for the Kutubiyya Mosque in Marrakesh, 1125-30 AD and the Qarawiyyin Mosque in Fez, AH 538/1144 AD (both made on the order of the Almoravid Sultan ‘Ali bin Yusuf bin Tashufin (r.1106-43)) amongst others (Dodds, 1992, p.373). This indicates that Andalusi craftsmen were producing this type of work in the early twelfth century and that they were exporting their craft to Morocco.
The use of these pyxis is unknown. Similar metal containers are generally thought to have been used as inkwells (see for example one in the David Collection, inv.no.16/2016) and a number of ivory examples, attributed either to Mamluk Egypt or Spain, for aromatics (see the David Collection, inv.no.25/1999). Whatever the contents, the meticulous and refined workmanship would suggest that the contents were valuable and deserving of the intricate beautiful presentation seen here.