Palermo, Palace of the Normans

Jewel box
with Arabic epigraph

12th – 13th c.

 

    Back of a jewel box (taken in 1309 as a reliquary), one of the rarest examples of medieval Muslim art. The inscriptions, in "neski" characters, and the decorations, are realised with ivory incrustations on black background.

Bibliography
- "L'età normanna e sveva in Sicilia", catalogo della mostra a Palazzo dei Normanni a Palermo, organizzata dall'Assemblea Regionale Siciliana, Palermo, 1994.

Location
Palermo, Tesoro della Cappella Palatina, Palazzo dei Normanni

Photography
G. Cappellani