MINING THE COLLECTION: TWO OPENWORK IVORY CASKETS FROM THE ISLAMIC MEDITERRANEAN WITH CURATOR MARIAM ROSSER-OWEN THURSDAY, MAY 6, AT 11:00 AM EASTERN

Please join us Thursday, May 6, at 11:00 AM Eastern, RSVP here.

Cylindrical box, Egypt or Spain, middle of the 14th century. Ivory carved with an openwork design and the inscription inlaid with bitumen. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 4139-1856.

Cylindrical box, Egypt or Spain, middle of the 14th century. Ivory carved with an openwork design and the inscription inlaid with bitumen. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 4139-1856.


Dr Mariam Rosser-Owen, Curator responsible for the art of the Arab World at the Victoria and Albert Museum, will offer an in-depth look at two fourteenth-century ivory objects in the museum’s Islamic art collection. Both cylindrical caskets, carved in openwork with cursive Arabic inscriptions, form part of a group that has been attributed to both Mamluk Egypt and Nasrid Spain. Part handling session, part presentation, Mariam will show us the ivories and outline the debate around their attribution.

We invite you to join us for a brief presentation followed by an informal discussion on Thursday, May 6, at 11:00 am Eastern. Please RSVP here.