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Casket

A work made of ivory, brass, tempera, and gold leaf.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of ivory, brass, tempera, and gold leaf.

Date:

12th century

Artist:

Italian; Sicily

About this artwork

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 boxes. 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.

Status

On View, Gallery 236

Department

Applied Arts of Europe

Title

Casket

Place

Sicily (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1100–1199

Medium

Ivory, brass, tempera, and gold leaf

Dimensions

9.5 × 15.9 × 9.7 cm (3 3/4 × 6 1/4 × 3 13/16 in.)

Credit Line

Samuel P. Avery Endowment

Reference Number

1926.389

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/28454/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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