A Fatimid figural ivory Plaque Egypt, 11th Century
of hexagonal form, carved in high relief on two levels with a bird with spread wings and two long-eared hares, on a scrolling vine 6.6 cm. diam
Footnotes
An almost identical slightly larger plaque is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (A.53-1921) and there are two comparable plaques in the Louvre, four in Berlin and six in the Bargello Museum in Florence.
This, as with the V&A example, probably formed part of a panel in a door, a casket or a similar item of woodwork. Four of the six sides retain a protruding flange which would have interlocked beneath abutting wooden sections. This technique is also evident in a pair of Fatimid ivory-inlaid wooden doors at the V&A (886&a-1884).
