Morgan Casket

Morgan Casket
Year	c. 11th-12th centuries
Medium	ivory
Location	Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Morgan Casket is a medieval casket from Southern Italy, probably Norman Sicily. However, it reflects the Islamic style of the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt, the culturally dominant power in the Western Mediterranean at the time. It is made from carved ivory and bone and is dated to the 11th–12th centuries AD.^[1]

Description

The casket is made from carved ivory and bone. All the visible faces have carvings, and standing sword-wielding men in turbans are placed at the corners. The wider faces have animals and hunters with spears. The only woman shown (end to the left of the missing lock) is inside a curtained howdah on a camel. The style derives from Fatimid art, but the casket was probably made in Norman Sicily. It is similar to carvings on the ceiling of the Cappella Palatina in Palermo, and boxes in other collections.^[1][2] The structure of the casket is itself made up of nine panels, four of which make up the body while five make up the lid.^[1]

It is 8 7/8 in. (22.3 cm) high, 15 3/16 in. (38.6 cm) wide, and 7 7/8 in. (20 cm) deep.^[3]

It was part of the donation by J. P. Morgan in 1917.

Similar pieces

• A similar casket exists in the Treasury of the Basilica of Saint Servatius in Maastricht, the Netherlands. The Maastricht Siculo-Arabic chest [nl] is smaller than the Morgan Casket but the carvings are almost identical, including the corner figures.
• Another ivory casket in the Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin is more or less the same size as the Morgan Casket but misses both the 'balustrade' along the lower edge, and the corner figures. This casket is said to originate from Speyer Cathedral.
• Various olifants in museum collections worldwide are carved similarly and may originate from the same workshop.

References