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拍品专文
When this bracelet sold in these Rooms, 10 October 2000, lot 351, it was catalogued as having been made in Spain around the year 1000. This was based on stylistic similarities with pieces of contemporaneous metalwork. Though surviving examples of jewellery from the Umayyad and Taifa periods in Spain are scarce, hoards have yielded some comparable material. One such hoard is the Garrucho hoard, which was acquired by the Instituto Valencia de Don Juan de Madrid in 1944. It includes a pair of hollow silver tubular bracelets, joined with a pin and hinged on one side. The surface is decorated with deeply-carved aniconic motifs which were described as ‘caliphal flowers’. The hoard also includes a hinged bracelet comprising one curved silver sheet which was incised and nielloed. To either side of a central roundel are running hares, similar to those which appear on this bracelet (Cristina Forteza del Rey Oteiza and Ernesto Augustí García, El Tesorillo Islámico de Garrucha, del Instituto Valencia de Don Juan, Madrid, 1988). The clasp on this bracelet is also similar to that on a pair of silver tubular bracelets in the Armaguilla Hoard, though in that case rather than a cast feline head those were decorated with filigree wire (Ainhoa Díaz de Monasterioguren Aporta, Las Joyas de las Armaguilla y Otros Tesoros del Siglo X, Madrid, 2021, fig.8). A fragmentary tubular bracelet is also in the Museo de la Alhambra, and was found in the Medina Elvira hoard. However, all of the bracelets in the Armaguilla and Medina Elvira hoards are lightly decorated with simple grooves, and lack the complex decorative programme of our example.
The decoration on our bracelet is more closely comparable with bracelets found in hoards in the Fatimid lands. In 1961, three pairs of fragmentary silver tubular bracelets were found in Caesarea with extensive repoussé work: they are now in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (acc.no.IAA 1961-1286-631). The largest pair are decorated with interlaced strapwork creating circular fields, in which there are running hares and birds, as on our bracelet (Na’ama Brosh, Islamic Jewelry, Jeruslam, p.15). Similar bracelets were found in other hoards, including nine bracelets from Ramla (acc.no.2008-640 to 648) and five found in the vicinity of the Haram al-Sharif (acc.no.1986-626 to 631), which are also in the Israel Museum. A further silver example, similar in design to the present lot is in the L. A. Mayer Museum, Jerusalem (acc.no.J151). Tubular bracelets were also made in gold in the Fatimid period, with examples including a celebrated example in the Musée de Louvre, Paris (acc.no.MAO 495) and one with a gem-set clasp in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc.no.58.37).
The decorative elements on this bracelet find parallels in broader Fatimid material culture. Particularly similar to this bracelet is a silver mirror in the Benaki Museum, Athens with a benedictory kufic inscription as well as similar scrolling motifs around the circumference (acc.no.13770). Hares also appear on Fatimid lustre pottery, such as a bowl in the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto (acc.no.AKM684) and another in the Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio (acc.no.1948.90). The combination of strapwork and confronted hares finds perhaps its closest comparison in a woodwork panel offered Sotheby’s London, 10 June 2020, lot 97.
The decoration on our bracelet is more closely comparable with bracelets found in hoards in the Fatimid lands. In 1961, three pairs of fragmentary silver tubular bracelets were found in Caesarea with extensive repoussé work: they are now in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (acc.no.IAA 1961-1286-631). The largest pair are decorated with interlaced strapwork creating circular fields, in which there are running hares and birds, as on our bracelet (Na’ama Brosh, Islamic Jewelry, Jeruslam, p.15). Similar bracelets were found in other hoards, including nine bracelets from Ramla (acc.no.2008-640 to 648) and five found in the vicinity of the Haram al-Sharif (acc.no.1986-626 to 631), which are also in the Israel Museum. A further silver example, similar in design to the present lot is in the L. A. Mayer Museum, Jerusalem (acc.no.J151). Tubular bracelets were also made in gold in the Fatimid period, with examples including a celebrated example in the Musée de Louvre, Paris (acc.no.MAO 495) and one with a gem-set clasp in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc.no.58.37).
The decorative elements on this bracelet find parallels in broader Fatimid material culture. Particularly similar to this bracelet is a silver mirror in the Benaki Museum, Athens with a benedictory kufic inscription as well as similar scrolling motifs around the circumference (acc.no.13770). Hares also appear on Fatimid lustre pottery, such as a bowl in the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto (acc.no.AKM684) and another in the Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio (acc.no.1948.90). The combination of strapwork and confronted hares finds perhaps its closest comparison in a woodwork panel offered Sotheby’s London, 10 June 2020, lot 97.