While visiting the Mezquita-Catedral of Córdoba during her doctoral research on the artistic patronage of the ʿĀmirid regents of al-Andalus in the late 10th century, Mariam Rosser-Owen became intrigued by the elephant tusk that hangs from one of the vaults in the ʿĀmirid extension. In the intervening years, when much of her research has focused on Andalusi ivory production, Rosser-Owen often wondered about this tusk and how it came to be hanging in this part of the former mosque. Could it have any connection to the ivory-carving industry for which caliphal Córdoba was famous? How does it relate to another elephant tusk that hangs in the cloister of Seville Cathedral, in the part of the building that preserves the courtyard of the Almohad mosque? This tusk hangs alongside the wooden replica of a crocodile that commemorates the gift of a real crocodile from a Mamluk embassy to the kings of Castile. Surprisingly, a third elephant tusk hangs from a pier in Toledo Cathedral.
What is the meaning of these objects hanging in the three most important Spanish cathedrals that were converted from Andalusi mosques? How do they relate to the medieval phenomenon of hanging natural wonders in ecclesiastical spaces? Another possibly comparable example is the so-called Tusk of Constantine in St Peter’s in Rome. We also know from medieval sources about the gifting of tusks in their raw state (as opposed to the objects known as oliphants) as well as gifts of elephants themselves. This talk will investigate these three tusks that hang in Iberian cathedrals, and ask if they can shed any light on the raw material from which some of Islamic Spain’s most beautiful surviving objects were made.
Dr Mariam Rosser-Owen is the curator responsible for the Arab World collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. She specialises in the Islamic Mediterranean, especially al-Andalus and the Maghrib, but more generally is interested in material culture connections around the Mediterranean during the medieval period. She is interested in how people commission works of art and what messages they express through these commissions. She is author of Articulating the Ḥijāba: Cultural Patronage and Political Legitimacy in al-Andalus. The ʿĀmirid Regency c.970-1010 AD (2021) and Islamic Arts from Spain (2010).
Organised by Dr Tom Nickson, Reader in Medieval Art & Architecture, The Courtauld, as part of the Medieval Work-in-Progress Series.
