{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O73768"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O73768/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AT6350/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AT6350/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AT6350","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KC2559","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O73768/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O73768","accessionNumber":"A.53-1921","objectType":"Plaque","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This small hexagonal (six-sided) plaque has two levels of carved decoration. The shallow carved intertwined leafy stems form a background for the more prominently carved animal decoration. These show a bird in flight above a pair of hares and may represent a bird of prey swooping on its quarry. The plaque probably formed part of a panel in a door, a casket or a similar item of woodwork. We think it was made in Egypt during the Fatimid period (969-1171).","physicalDescription":"Hexagonal ivory plaque.  Carved in relief on two levels: interlacing foliate scrolls form a background to the main images in higher relief of a pair of addorsed hares and a bird overhead.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"elephant ivory","id":"x35861"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carved","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Elephant ivory, carved in relief","categories":[{"text":"Islam","id":"THES48932"},{"text":"Africa","id":"THES49019"}],"styles":[{"text":"Fatimid","id":"AAT21550"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"MES","id":"THES48607"},"images":["2006AT6350","2017KC2559"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES394858"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Plaque","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Egypt","id":"x29512"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"11th century","earliest":"1000-01-01","latest":"1100-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by G.D. Hornblower","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Historical significance: The juxtaposition of low and high relief carving also occurs in Fatimid woodwork, for example the eleventh-century panels probably from the Dar al-Qutbiyya (reused in the thirteenth-century maristan (hospital) of Qala'un).  This decorative style continues into the Ayyubid and Mamluk period, demonstrated by the V&A carved wooden tiles (391-1884) from the minbar of the mosque of Ibn Tulun, dated 1297-8.  The technique is also found in other media, such as stone, e.g. the V&A marble basin (335-1903), dated 1277.\r\n\r\nThere are two comparable plaques in the Louvre, four in Berlin and six in the Bargello Museum in Florence.","historicalContext":"This hexagonal plaque was probably made for insertion into a wooden panel.  Four of the six sides retain a lower protruding flange which would have interlocked beneath abutting wooden sections.  This technique is also evident in a pair of ivory-inlaid wooden doors at the V&A, 886&a-1884.","briefDescription":"Sculpture; Hexagonal ivory plaque.  Carved in relief with a bird & two hares against a background of interlaced foliage.  Egypt, 11th century.; Ivory Egyptian (fatimid) 11c","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Longhurst, MH.  Catalogue of carvings in ivory.  London: Pub. under the authority of the Board of Education, 1927-29. I,  Pl. XXVIII"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Contadini, A. Fatimid art: at the Victoria and Albert Museum.  London: V&A Publications, 1998.  Pl.50"},{"reference":{"text":"Antoine, Élisabeth & Barrucand, Marianne, <i>Trésors fatimides du Caire : exposition présentée à l'Institut du monde arabe du 28 avril au 30 août 1998.</i> Arab World Institute, France, 1998","id":"AUTH353367"},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"hare","id":"x30063"},{"text":"bird","id":"x35043"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["A.53-1921"],"accessionNumberNum":"53","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":1921,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-24","recordCreationDate":"2003-02-03","availableToBook":true}}