Precious Ivory Presents: Politics of Gift in the Andalusi Umayyad Court

Abstract

A fundamental part of the policy of prestige implemented by the Umayyad in al-Andalus was played through magnificence and ostentation. As the Eastern monarchs, the Andalusian rulers frequently relied on luxurious gifts as an expression of their power and authority; in this sense, they created a whole network of official artistic workshops at the service of the prince. Within these sumptuary industries, the ivory workshop established in the palatial city of Madinat al-Zahra’ produced one of the most outstanding and exquisite productions of Medieval Western Europe. On the basis of the preserved pieces, this paper will study the sophisticated discourse about the gifts as a dialectic structure between subjects in the Andalusian court context. As well as a discussion on the different categories of ivory gifts commissioned by Royal initiative during the Caliphal period.