Rare Granada Nasrid style box in geometric marquetry of bone and wood inlay, following Granada Nasrid Models, Spain ...

Rare Granada Nasrid style box in geometric marquetry of bone and wood inlay, following Granada Nasrid Models, Spain, 19th C
In wood, inlaid with ebony and dyed bone, measures: 12 x 19 x 10.5 cm.

The so-called inlay technique was an Andalusian technique characteristic of the late Middle Ages in Spain as an ornamental procedure for furniture and household goods. The term taracea, whose origin is found in the Arabic word tarsi (inlay), traditionally applied to the ornamentation of furniture pieces with fine fragments of different colors and textures, as well as with other materials such as bone and ivory. We find the origin of this industry in Cordoba, during the Umayyad al-Andalus, it will not be until the time of the Nasrid sultanate, when its use becomes popular in noble and courtly environments as a procedure to ennoble objects of the wealthiest classes.

After the capture of Granada, even before the conquest, we find pieces produced with the same Moorish influence. The Castilian word "marquetry" is often used as a synonym. Already in the Caliphate period, an excellent cabinetmaking workshop was active in al-Andalus, located in Umayyad Cordoba.

A technique that consists of gluing small prismatic portions (triangular and/or trapezoidal) of ivory or bone - in natural color or dyed, together with polygonal pieces of selected woods, often of exotic origin (aloe, ebony, sandalwood, boxwood, lemon tree...), to which were sometimes added fragments of tortoiseshell or mother-of-pearl and even small metallic points of silver or bronze. To obtain the green color of the incrustations, the most used technique was to achieve it with copper compounds impregnated in the bone. Reference Bibliography: "GALÁN, Marfiles medievales del Islam, p. 483" ; "S. CALVO CAPILLA, "Dos arquetas de taracea", in I. G. BANGO TORVISO (coord.), Maravillas de la España medieval. Tesoro sagrado y monarquía, Valladolid, 2001, vol. I, p. 120, no. 36; Arte y culturas de al-Andalus, cat. no. 156".