Daily grace

Cylindrical box

First half 11th century, Cordoba or Cuenca, Spain

carved ivory

This tiny ivory box (two and one-third inches in diameter) was meant to be picked up and rotated in the hand. To provide contrast with the box’s rigid symmetrical framework, the ivory carver heightened the organic quality of the foliage, notching the leaves to represent veins, and drilling small holes to articulate the leaf edges. Three pairs of gazelle, common in Africa but not in the Iberian peninsula, munch on vines on the lid.