A Large Siculo-Arabic Gilt Metal Mounted Ivory Casket, Sicily, 12th Century

of rectangular form with hinged gabled lid, the ivory panels secured by gilt copper mounts with pointed and palmette terminals and lock plate, decorated with painted ornaments comprising birds and floral motifs, the interior with beige cloth lining

rubbing to the painted ornaments. the lining worn down, some cracks to the ivory, as viewed.
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This handsome casket comes from a well-documented group attributed to Sicily of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (Cott 1939; Pinder-Wilson 1973). This example bears the characteristic decoration, principally applied in gold within black or dark grey outlines with occasional touches of red and green. The decorative motifs tend to be drawn from a fairly narrow range of designs. In this case, one of the most favoured subjects, birds, is the predominant theme. The inverted heart-shaped cartouches on the upper lid are, unusually, enclosing the bird within a stylised palmette rather than the more commonplace roundel. The pointed arabesque on the reverse is also amongst the more unusual decorative elements seen on these caskets. This element is similar to one found on the reverse of a casket in the collection of the Vatican (Ferrandis 1940, vol. II, p.159, no.36).

These caskets are made from thin sheets of ivory worked from tusks taken from African elephants, the supply coming to Sicily through trade routes controlled by the Fatimids in Egypt (Rosser-Owen 2004, p.24). The sheets are pinned together but require the additional strength given by the gilt-metal mounts that are original.

The use of thin sheets and painted decoration permitted the workshops of Sicily to produce these caskets with more efficient use of materials and greater speed than those of Spain from which they derive much of their inspiration. As a consequence, it would appear that more were produced, judging by the greater numbers that remain today. Many are still in church treasuries where often they came to be used as reliquaries.

It may also be the case that, unlike Spanish ivories, the majority of which were retained for use by the upper levels of the court, these caskets were intended for a broader range of usage, perhaps as gifts, diplomatic or personal. As such they may have been dispersed at the time of their production, rather than relying more on the chance survival of seized war booty as seems to have been the case with Spanish ivories. This dispersal combined with the relative safety of a church treasury has also enhanced their survival rates.