A Nasrid wood and bone-inlaid pyxis, Spain, 14th/15th century

Formerly in a Flemish private collection, first half 20th century

The group of boxes to which this pyxis belongs was formally identified thanks to their similarities in size, material and techniques. These boxes are bound to a larger constellation of Andalusian woodwork characterised by the use of a technique known in Spanish as taracea - from the Arabic tarsi‘, ‘to stud, to inlay’. They are recognisable by their overlaid ‘geometrical incrustation’ using various specimen of wood to frame small tesserae of bone that are sometimes dyed in green or blue, as can be seen on the present box. Although undated, these objects had previously been attributed to the fourteenth or fifteenth century based on a pair of taracea cupboard doors in the Museo de la Alhambra in Granada commissioned for a princely building in the early fifteenth century (Al-Andalus 1992, cat.118, p.373; Granada 1995, pp.379-380, cat. no.143).

Surviving pyxides can be divided into two primary groups. The first has intricate geometric inlay on the top and sides, eight carved open-work panels and marquetry work on the base. The second, to which the present lot belongs, is decorated with overall taracea to the sides, rather than openwork plaques. The commonalities between the boxes points at a common point of production in closely related Andalusian workshops.

The group counts eight other known boxes, to which we can add the present lot:

Group 1, with openwork plaques:

1. Madrid, Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan, purchased in Burgos, inv. no.4867 (Ferrandis 1940, vol.II, pp.266-7, cat.168; Galán y Galindo 2005, vol.II, pp.151-2, cat.07051).

2. Copenhagen, The David Collection, inv. no.1/2017.

3. León, Private collection (Silva Santa Cruz 2015).

4. Barcelona, formerly collection of Miquel y Badía, size and present whereabouts unknown (Ferrandis 1940. vol.II, p.267, cat.169, pl.LXXXVII; Galán y Galindo 2005, vol.II, p.153, cat.07052).

5. Sotheby’s, London, 10 June 2020, lot 87.

6. Sotheby’s, London, 26 April 2023, lot 77

Group 2, with taracea sides:

7. Christie’s, London, 28 October 2020, lot 20.

8. Granada, Museo del Alhambra (Santa Cruz 2015, p.237, esp. note 15)

The boxes forming group two present a bolder use of colour than those of the first group owing to a generous use of both green and blue stained bone, alongside the natural bone and various woods. The Alhambra pyxis is the smallest of the three, measuring 11cm. in height and diverges from the other two in the decoration of the lid which shows stellar motifs - an arrangement seen on examples within group one. Moreover, it has a monochromatic border above and below the side panels, unlike the polychrome border present here.

The Christie’s example is almost identical to this pyxis in terms of size and decoration, but the present pyxis is the most elaborate of the 3, incorporating an additional band of inlay to the interior of the lid and a more varied use of colour to the base. The tarcaea of the lid has a comparably more open arrangement by extending into similarly inlaid ‘rays’ unlike the interlocking triangles enclosing the lid of the Christie’s panel. The close similarities, nonetheless, suggest a common workshop.

In his effort to establish these pyxides’ date of production, Raby identified the first known iterations of taracea in Al-Andalus: two minbars, one in the Kutubiyya Mosque in Marrakesh and the other in the Qarawiyyin mosque in Fez, both dated to the early twelfth century and known to have been made in Cordoba or by Andalusian craftsmen brought to North Africa. Their existence proves that Andalusian artists produced taracea work in the early twelfth century and exported the technique to the other side of the Straits of Gibraltar. However, while such technique remained in use in Morocco for more than two hundred years, with examples in Marrakesh, Fez and Taza, no evidence of production was known in Al-Andalus between the Kutubiyya minbar and the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries.

The apparent vacuum between the twelfth and fourteenth century led Raby to reconsider the dating for these boxes, suggesting a twelfth/thirteenth century date for the Sotheby’s 2020 pyxis, supported by a carbon date test which returned a result between 970 and 1032 AD with 95% confidence (see Sotheby’s, London, 10 June 2020, lot 87, for a more detailed discussion).