The Museum of the Ways of the Gaudí Palace presents as ‘Piece of the Month’ for March a Moorish chest made of wood and ivory dating from the end of the 15th century. The work can be seen on the second floor of the Gaudí Palace.
The chest is dated to the end of the 15th century, although its chronology raises doubts. It has a wooden core, a rectangular base and a five-sided lid. It is decorated with rhomboidal and triangular ivory pieces. The checkering of the front and upper panels adds fine inlaid flowers inside the rhombuses. Everything is framed by wide ivory moldings, alternating white and green.
The decoration of the rectangular box is the same on its panels, but the frame also has a lower molding with triangular zigzag pieces. The base on which it sits, inlaid in wood, lacks ivory pieces. The fittings have been added, except for the upper handle, which could be original.
The decorative technique used in this Moorish piece is inlay, which was developed with great success in the late Spanish andalusian Middle Ages as an ornamental procedure for furniture and household goods.
At the end of March, the piece will be moved, but will remain until the end of the year along with the rest of the works exhibited in the coming months. The Gaudí Palace is open from Monday to Sunday from 10:30 am to 2:00 pm and in the afternoons from 4:00 pm to 6:30 pm.