Octagonal Box

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

One of the many techniques mastered by woodworkers in al-Andalus was marquetry – fitting small pieces of different materials together, jigsaw-like, to create a pattern. This box incorporates thin slices of different species of wood, some stained green, together with ivory or bone. Its octagonal shape, complemented by 8-pointed stars on the lid and base, is echoed in the central pattern on each of the sides. The band of linked, rotated squares on the sides of the lid strongly resembles a marquetry pattern found on the late-12th or early-13th century minbar of the Qasba Mosque in Marrakech, perhaps made by Andalusi craftsmen, suggesting a similar date for this box.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Museum's collection of medieval and Byzantine art is among the most comprehensive in the world. Displayed in both The Met Fifth Avenue and in the Museum's branch in northern Manhattan, The Met Cloisters, the collection encompasses the art of the Mediterranean and Europe from the fall of Rome in the fourth century to the beginning of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century. It also includes pre-medieval European works of art created during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.

Metropolitan Museum of Art