Oliphant with animals in vine scrolls
Type:
Oliphants
Date:
Eleventh century
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Italy
Medium:
Ivory
Dimensions:
23 × 56 × 10.3 cm
Description:
This oliphant, or hunting horn, made from the hollow end of an African Savannah elephant tusk, was likely carved in southern Italy. Part of the mystery around its place of production comes from its mixed styles. Oliphants sometimes have ornamental endzone bands but smooth bodies, leading some scholars to speculate that this and other oliphants with hybrid aesthetics might have been carved by different individuals (e.g., one carver in Fatimid Egypt adding the decorative bands and a later carver in southern Italy adding the animals and interwoven vines). The second option is that it was carved by a single individual who was experimenting with mixing styles. These competing theories demonstrate the difficulty of determining place of production using style clues alone, especially in the medieval Mediterranean, where ornamental motifs, some more Islamicate and some less, regularly coexisted.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
6,
7
