TREASURES OF AL ANDALUS, OLD MASTERS, FINE ART AND ANTIQUES
Lot 172:
In cedar wood, with ebony and stained bone inlays, measurements: 13 x 27.5 x 15 cm. Provenance: private collection, Paris, Export permit attached. The piece that we present stands out for it’s quality and the use of inlay marquetry, an Andalusian technique characteristic of the Spanish Late Middle Ages as an ornamental procedure for furniture and household items. The term inlay, whose origin is found in the Arabic word tarsi (inlay), traditionally applied to the ornamentation of pieces of furniture with fine fragments of different colors and textures, as well as with other materials such as bone and ivory. We find the origin of this industry in Córdoba, during the Omeya al-Andalus, it will not be until the time of the Nasrid sultanate, when its use becomes popular in noble and courtly environments as a procedure to ennoble objects of the wealthiest classes. After the capture of Granada, even before the conquest, we find pieces produced with the same Moorish influence. As a synonym, the Spanish word “marquetry” is usually used. Already in the Caliphate period, an excellent cabinet-making workshop located in the Umayyad Córdoba was active in al-Andalus. A technique that consists of gluing small prismatic portions (triangular and/or trapezoidal) of ivory or bone – in natural color or dyed, together with small polygonal pieces of selected woods, often of exotic origin (aloe, ebony, sandalwood, boxwood). , lemon Tree…), to which fragments of tortoiseshell or mother-of-pearl and even small metallic silver or bronze points were added. To achieve the green color of the inlays, the most used technique was to obtain it based on copper compounds impregnated in the bone. Even after the capture of Granada, Moorish artisans ran inlay workshops located in places like Seville, Aragon or Catalonia. These converted masters would be in charge of keeping this production alive throughout the Modern Age, even exporting it to the New Continent. Also noteworthy is the use of inlay since the 14th century in workshops in northern Italy, applied to pieces of ivory or bone. Far from disappearing, in the 18th and 19th centuries the marquetry of the Moorish tradition acquired a great diffusion in the Peninsula, deeply rooted in the artisan practice of southern Spain, in such a way that even today it is possible to acquire in Granada both modern souvenirs executed in this technique and interpretations and reproductions of furniture in marquetry emulating the mastery of Mudejar artisans. Works in comparison: Nazarí casket in marquetry, Instituto Valencia de Don Juan, Madrid, inv. nº 4862 Reference bibliography: “GALÁN, Medieval Ivories of Islam, p. 483” ; “Yes. CALVO CAPILLA, “Two inlaid chests”, in IG BANGO TORVISO (coord.), Wonders of medieval Spain. Sacred treasure and monarchy, Valladolid, 2001, vol. I, p. 120, no. 36; Art and cultures of al-Andalus, cat. No. 156”. in such a way that even today it is possible to acquire in Granada both modern souvenirs executed in this technique and interpretations and reproductions of furniture in marquetry emulating the mastery of Mudejar craftsmen. Works in comparison: Nazarí casket in marquetry, Instituto Valencia de Don Juan, Madrid, inv. nº 4862 Reference bibliography: “GALÁN, Medieval Ivories of Islam, p. 483” ; “Yes. CALVO CAPILLA, “Two inlaid chests”, in IG BANGO TORVISO (coord.), Wonders of medieval Spain. Sacred treasure and monarchy, Valladolid, 2001, vol. I, p. 120, no. 36; Art and cultures of al-Andalus, cat. No. 156”. in such a way that even today it is possible to acquire in Granada both modern souvenirs executed in this technique and interpretations and reproductions of furniture in marquetry emulating the mastery of Mudejar craftsmen. Works in comparison: Nazarí casket in marquetry, Instituto Valencia de Don Juan, Madrid, inv. nº 4862 Reference bibliography: “GALÁN, Medieval Ivories of Islam, p. 483” ; “Yes. CALVO CAPILLA, “Two inlaid chests”, in IG BANGO TORVISO (coord.), Wonders of medieval Spain. Sacred treasure and monarchy, Valladolid, 2001, vol. I, p. 120, no. 36; Art and cultures of al-Andalus, cat. No. 156”. nº 4862 Reference bibliography: “GALÁN, Medieval Ivories of Islam, p. 483” ; “Yes. CALVO CAPILLA, “Two inlaid chests”, in IG BANGO TORVISO (coord.), Wonders of medieval Spain. Sacred treasure and monarchy, Valladolid, 2001, vol. I, p. 120, no. 36; Art and cultures of al-Andalus, cat. No. 156”. nº 4862 Reference bibliography: “GALÁN, Medieval Ivories of Islam, p. 483” ; “Yes. CALVO CAPILLA, “Two inlaid chests”, in IG BANGO TORVISO (coord.), Wonders of medieval Spain. Sacred treasure and monarchy, Valladolid, 2001, vol. I, p. 120, no. 36; Art and cultures of al-Andalus, cat. No. 156”.
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