15th century Nasirid or post-Nasirid marquetry. wooden rectangular box.
This shallow medieval Islamic Spanish hinged box is decorated with two repeated marquetry features: first in the form of framed bands of alternating types of wood veneer including ebony as well as plain and stained ivory; and secondly, in the form of octagonal patterns emanating from rotated squares. The octagon is specifically symbolic from a Sufi point of view as it recalls the 8 Angels bearing the Throne of Allah.
Ibn Arabi the famous Andalusian Sufi wrote extensively on that in his alFutuhat alMakkiya and Fusus alhikam (The Bevels of Wisdom) a century earlier in Spain, thus it is not far fetched to see as many references to octagons on this one wooden item.
This box is a good example of a container for a cherished object, probably for the holy Book or for prized religious relics. This can be clearly discerned by the fact that it rests on 4 wooden footed turned legs raising it from the profane ground and also for the unusual presence of an original surviving iron lock.
Dimensions: 40cm long *27cm wide *8.5cm height