Ivory Casket with Birds and Animals in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2010

Ivory Casket with Birds and Animals
Paint and gilded copper alloy mounts with glass
South Italian, Sicily
Carved 1200-1300

Accession # 1973.90

A peacock with exaggerated tail feathers as well as a circle with two concentric rings and four loops were common motifs in both ivory painting and carving in southern Italy. The various stones that decorate the metal fasteners were added at a later time, probably for a Western client.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.