Ivory box, 750- 850 AD, (1881). Etching of a container carved from a single piece of ivory in the 8th or 9th century, possibly in Egypt or Syria. The body of this container, shaped like the lower half of a gourd, is one of the earliest Islamic ivories to survive. The decoration, consisting of small birds perched in a grapevine, is a design inherited from the pre-Islamic period. The neck is encircled by a gilded metal band, and the lid is beech wood with gold leaf. The spherical rock crystal knob is pierced by a metal spike which terminates in a ring. The lid and metal mounts are of a later date. From "The South Kensington Museum", a book of engraved illustrations, with descriptions, of the works of art in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (formerly known as the South Kensington Museum). [Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, London, 1881]