Name of Object:

Two ivory plaques

Location:

London, England, United Kingdom

Holding Museum:

The British Museum

About The British Museum, London

Date of Object:

Hegira 8th century / AD 14th century

Museum Inventory Number:

1874.3-2.6 & 7

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Carved ivory.

Dimensions:

Height 28.2 cm (broken plaque is now 17.6 cm high), width 2.0 cm, depth 0.6 to 0.7 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Mamluk

Provenance:

Egypt.

Description:

Two tall rectangular plaques carved from pale elephant ivory. Originally the same height but one of them has since broken. Both plaques are carved with figures against a ground of arabesques or vegetal scrolls. The figure at the top of the unbroken piece wears a hat decorated with a cross and holds a Byzantine double-barred cross. He is probably a Christian ecclesiastic. In the centre is a figure representing a Christian ruler; he is wearing chain-mail, indicated by the Y-shaped motif on his garment, and a three pointed crown. The remaining figure carries a cross in his right hand and in his left an incense burner of the type used in Christian liturgy. The broken plaque is missing the top figure and half of the central figure. The bottom figure wears a turban over long hair and carries a long-necked bottle. Some scholars have assumed that he is a Muslim court attendant. However, he could be a Christian as turbans were worn by members of both religions. All the figures wear a tunic falling just below the knee with low-slung belts and decorative tiraz bands around the upper arms.
The intact plaque has five holes irregularly placed that are invisible from the front, which appear to have been drilled to attach it to a larger object. However, the broken plaque has no holes. It is likely then that they were fixed to a larger object with glue. Given the slim shape of the plaques and the fact that the figures all look inwards it seems likely that they once formed the frame around a book cover. They may have been commissioned by a Christian ruler for the cover of a Bible, or another Christian religious text.

View Short Description

Two ivory plaques carved with figures and arabesques. The figures seem to be Christian: one is holding a Byzantine cross and another an incense burner used in Christian liturgy. This suggests that these pieces, although made by a Muslim craftsman, were probably commissioned by a Christian.

How date and origin were established:

Dating of the plaques is in a range of about 400 years: 6th–10th / 12th–16th century. However, Ward's (see below) suggestion that they date to the 8th / 14th century seems the most plausible. By comparing the style of carving and costume details to Mamluk objects in other media, such as manuscripts illustrations and inlaid metalwork, she concludes that they were produced between 740–71 / 1340–70.

How Object was obtained:

Bequeathed to the British Museum by Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks in 1874.

How provenance was established:

Scholars have assigned these plaques to a wide array of countries including Spain, Italy, Sicily, Egypt and Iran. However, stylistic analysis suggests that they were produced in Egypt or Syria.

Selected bibliography:

Ward, R., "Two Ivory Plaques in the British Museum", in Cairo to Kabul (eds. W. Ball and L. Harrow), London, 2002, pp.248–54, plate 26.3.

Citation of this web page:

Emily Shovelton "Two ivory plaques" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;uk;Mus01;26;en

Prepared by: Emily ShoveltonEmily Shovelton

Emily Shovelton is a historian of Islamic art. She studied history of art at Edinburgh University before completing an MA in Islamic and Indian art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. Since graduating she has worked on a number of projects at the British Museum. Other recent work includes editing and writing for a digital database of architectural photographs at the British Library. She is currently working on a Ph.D. on “Sultanate Painting in 15th-century India and its relationship to Persian, Mamluk and Indian Painting”, to be completed at SOAS in 2006. A paper on Sultanate painting given at the Conference of European Association of South Asian Archaeologists, held in the British Museum in July 2005, is due to be published next year.

Copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: UK1 31

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 Artistic Introduction

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Islamic Dynasties / Period

Mamluks


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The Mamluks | Everyday life in the Mamluk Sultanate

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Ivory

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