About This Artwork

Sicily

Painted Ivory Casket, 12th century

Ivory, brass, tempera, and gold leaf
15.9 x 10.3 cm (6 1/4 x 4 1/16 in.)
Samuel P. Avery Endowment, 1926.389

This type of ornately painted ivory casket survived in relatively large numbers in church treasuries. Judging from their Arabic inscriptions, which contain wishes for happiness, blessings, or glory, it is likely that many of them were originally intended for secular use as wedding gifts or jewelry boxers. However, they were often later used as reliquaries. Here traces of an inscription on the front rim and cover read, "May glory endure". This box was probably made on the island of Sicily, an important crossroads of Mediterranean trade.

Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories

Exhibition History

The Art Institute of Chicago, Medieval Decorative Arts from Chicago Collections, October 2, 1985-January 5, 1986.

The Art Institute of Chicago, Devotion and Splendor: Medieval Art at the Art Institute of Chicago, September 25, 2004-January 3, 2005, cat. 2.

Publication History

Perry Blythe Cott, Siculo-Arabic Ivories (Princeton, 1939), p. 33, pl. 7.

Ferrandis Torres, José, Marfiles árabes de occidente (Madrid, 1940), pp. 169-170, and pl. 39.

Ownership History

Achillito Chiesa, Milan, befor 1926 (his sale, New York, American Art Assoc, Inc., April 16-17, 1926, no. 368); Day & Meye, Co., as agent for the Art Institute [according to receipt in Registrar's file]; purchased by the museum, 1926.