Morgan Casket

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

The Morgan Casket is a medieval-era casket from Southern Italy. The casket, attributed to the Fatimid Caliphate, is made from carved ivory and is dated to the 11th–12th centuries AD.

Description

View from above

The casket is made from carved ivory and bone. Said carvings depict sword-wielding men in turbans along with hunters, beasts, and birds; this style of art has been noted to be similar to carvings on the ceiling of the Cappella Palatina in Palermo. 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.

Art historical references

• A similar casket exists in the Treasury of the Basilica of Saint Servatius in Maastricht, the Netherlands. The Maastricht Siculo-Arabic chest 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.