BOOKS by Noelia Silva Santa-Cruz
La eboraria andalusí. Del Califato omeya a la Granada nazarí
BAR International Series 2522, Oxford, Archeopress, 506 p., 2013
Los objetos en marfil producidos en al-Andalus constituyen una de las manifestaciones suntuarias ... more Los objetos en marfil producidos en al-Andalus constituyen una de las manifestaciones suntuarias más sobresalientes y exquisitas de la Edad Media. En este volumen se estudia monográficamente la evolución y transformación de esta industria áulica a lo largo de las cuatro etapas de las que se conservan vestigios materiales: Califato, Reinos de Taifas, Dinastías Africanas y Sultanato Nazarí. El trabajo pretende, por un lado, contextualizar la producción en su medio histórico-artístico y político-social y, por otro, reunir en un catálogo integral y actualizado todas las manifestaciones eborarias andalusíes conocidas, incorporando aquellas piezas de aparición más reciente, que han visto la luz en los últimos años, ya sea en el mercado del arte o en el curso de excavaciones arqueológicas.
Papers by Noelia Silva Santa-Cruz
Arts, 14, 8 Open Access https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/14/1/8/pdf, 2025
The silver-gilt container discovered in 1964 in the vicinity of Albarracin is currently housed in... more The silver-gilt container discovered in 1964 in the vicinity of Albarracin is currently housed in the Teruel Museum in Spain and represents a pinnacle of Taifa sumptuary arts. It was commissioned by the second monarch of the Kingdom of Albarracin, 'Abd al-Malik ibn Khalaf (r. 1045-?), as a gift to his wife Zahr. The object's elevated technical sophistication, coupled with its bespoke commemorative inscription, lends credence to the notion that it was crafted in the royal workshops responsible for the production of luxury items. The vessel's functionality, which has fluctuated between its traditional consideration as a perfume bottle and the more recent identification as a canteen, has been adequately postulated but not sufficiently examined. The aim of this paper is to discuss the primary function of the object in question, particularly in relation to its distinctive flattened spherical shape. To achieve this, the study will delve into the close and wellestablished historical association between the morphology and function of objects, which tends to endure and perpetuate within the same cultural context over the centuries. By employing this methodology, we can establish a connection between the studied piece and the flasks used for the storage of sacred water (zamzam) that pilgrims brought back from Mecca after performing the Ḥajj. This typology can be traced back to the pre-Islamic period and persisted through the Ottoman matara model.
En Inés Monteira (ed.), The Visual Culture of Al-Andalus in the Christian Kingdoms of Iberia. Ninth to Thirteenth Centuries. New York: Routledge, 2025
The church of San Pedro de Cervatos is a temple built in Cantabria in the Twelfth Century that ho... more The church of San Pedro de Cervatos is a temple built in Cantabria in the Twelfth Century that houses an interesting doorway with a tympanum profusely sculpted with vegetal scrolls and a lintel adorned with zoomorphic ornamentation. Both elements differ from the decorative programs usually found in other Romanesque buildings of the same period. The aim of this work is to perform, for the first time, a systematic study of the formal development of this façade, highlighting the importance that the processes of cultural and artistic interaction with Islamic Iberia may have exerted in the choice and definition of these unique designs. Special attention will be paid to the important role that the intense circulation of sumptuary objects between al-Andalus and the Kingdom of Castile and Leon, at the end of the central Middle Ages, must have played in this visual assimilation.
M. Pérez Sánchez y I.J. García Zapata (eds), Historias del lujo. El arte de la plata y otras artes suntuarias. Murcia: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Murcia-Pireo Editorial, 2024
The sumptuary arts played a very important role in the transition to Modernity in Europe, a perio... more The sumptuary arts played a very important role in the transition to Modernity in Europe, a period where power, luxury and magnificence were displayed through rich pieces, many of which transcended their own monetary value. The case of the trousseau of the Marquise del Cenete, Leonor de la Cerda, contextualizes the problem very well.
(In) Materialidad en el arte medieval. Madrid: Trea., 2023
Almanzor y Carlomagno. El Camino de Santiago ante el islam en época medieval, Madrid: Trea, 2023
Imagen de portada: Miniatura del Codex Calixtinus representando a Carlomagno junto a su ejército ... more Imagen de portada: Miniatura del Codex Calixtinus representando a Carlomagno junto a su ejército saliendo hacia Compostela desde Aquisgrán (f. 162v), c. 1138.
Goya. Revista de Arte, 2022
La arqueta de marfil de San Miguel de Aralar en contexto. Biografía cultural de un estuche islámi... more La arqueta de marfil de San Miguel de Aralar en contexto. Biografía cultural de un estuche islámico medieval para instrumental científico Este trabajo da a conocer y analiza una caja de marfil de gran calidad aparecida hace algunos años en el santuario navarro de San Miguel de Aralar. Además de indagar sobre su peculiar tipología, que conecta con un grupo bien conocido de estuches islámicos para transportar instrumental científico, el artículo explora la trayectoria vital de la pieza. La naturaleza "viajera" y portable de los objetos suntuarios medievales les permite experimentar, como en este caso, saltos interculturales, que contribuyen a otorgar a estos recipientes funciones e identidades inéditas en sus nuevos contextos.
V. Rabasco García; S. Calvo Capilla y A. Hernández (eds.), Al-Andalus y el Arte Español: ejercicios de inclusión y de olvido. Homenaje a Juan Carlos Ruiz Souza, Madrid: La Ergástula,, 2022
Este trabajo aborda el estudio de la presencia de elementos artísticos andalusíes en el contexto ... more Este trabajo aborda el estudio de la presencia de elementos artísticos andalusíes en el contexto de la arquitectura bajomedieval de la Corona de Castilla. De forma concreta, se centra en el estudio de caso de las antiguas casas de los condes de Cabra en Córdoba, estructuras reaprovechadas hoy en espacios conventuales, que datan de la primera mitad del siglo XV. Especial interés tienen las decoraciones de yeserías, pues permiten reflexionar sobre las relaciones y transferencias artísticas que se producen entre Castilla y Granada en un período finisecular. Sus promotores realizan servicios militares en la
campaña granadina y utilizan los lenguajes artísticos andalusíes con gran habilidad, no solo para reflejar el lujo y la magnificencia, sino para reforzar los discursos identitarios ligados a la construcción de la imagen pública del linaje.
Románico y reliquias. Arte, devoción y fetichismo. Aguilar de Campoo, Fundación Santa María La Real del Patrimonio Histórico, 2022
Reflexiones incluidas en la presentación del proyecto de investigación y exposición "The Art of C... more Reflexiones incluidas en la presentación del proyecto de investigación y exposición "The Art of Containment" dirigido por G. Wolf en colaboración con B. Sherman (Warburg Institute, Londres), que involucra al Kunsthistorisches Institut en Florencia-Max-Planck-Institut y el Victoria and Albert Museum, Londres, disponible en https://www.khi.fi.it/en/forschung/abteilung-wolf/the-art-of-containment.php [acceso: 03.04.2022]. 5 C. HaHn, "What Do Reliquaries Do for Relics?", Numen, 57 (2010), pp. 284-316; B. reudenBacH y G. toussaint (eds.), Reliquiare im Mittelalter, Berlín, 2011. 6 Esta máxima se advierte claramente en una estrofa de la Vida de santo Domingo de Silos escrita por Gonzalo de Berceo, cuando este narra cómo la intercesión del santo hizo posible la liberación de un cautivo, y sus cadenas fueron ofrendadas ante la tumba del abad: "Vidieron el confessor que era alta cosa, que tan grand virtud fiço e tan maravillosa, dicién que tal tesoro, candela tan lumnosa, devié seer metida en arca más preciosa". Citado en J.C. Ruiz Souza, "Arqueta de Leire", en I. BanGo torviso (dir.
Sotto lo sguardo di Ruggero. Un sovrano, un regno, una città del Mediterraneo medievale. Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi (Cefalù, 29 febbraio- 1 marzo 2020), 2022
Artistic and Cultural Dialogues in the Late Medieval Mediterranean, 2021
This chapter highlights the intensity reached by the transculturation phenomenon in the Medieval ... more This chapter highlights the intensity reached by the transculturation phenomenon in the Medieval Eastern Mediterranean region. Silva analyses some of the most relevant borrowings assimilated by the propagandistic visual lexicon of the Norman monarchy, which involved both the production of painted ivories and the decorative programs of the main representative spaces. This work traces back the iconographic connections of these motifs with the shared court imagery of royal power and glorification associated with the Islamic cultural sphere, especially through the sumptuary productions of the Fatimid Caliphate and al-Andalus. The author explores the modes of transmission and reception of these themes through the circulation and arrival on the island of portable artefacts, mainly ivory works, lustre pottery and textiles, highlighting the interaction and the important networks of exchange between courts, without forgetting the important role played in this process by the across-media translations.
TOCCO, F.P., Scienza, arte e cultura nella Sicilia normanna, 2021
Objetos venidos de al-Andalus y del Magreb: Piezas suntuarias e insignias de poder islámicas en Castilla en época del Conde de Tendilla
BERMUDEZ LÓPEZ, J., et alii (eds. lit.), El Conde de Tendilla y su tiempo, Granada, Universidad, 2018
Este trabajo explora la llegada vía botín de guerra de destacadas piezas suntuarias islámicas, al... more Este trabajo explora la llegada vía botín de guerra de destacadas piezas suntuarias islámicas, algunas de ellas con un alto valor representativo como insignias de poder, a manos de personajes relevantes de la elite política o eclesiástica castellana en época de los Reyes Católicos y trata de reflexionar acerca de la percepción de estos objetos dentro de su nuevo contexto cultural, profundizando en su dimensión ideológica y estética. Asimismo incide en el importante papel que desempeñó la circulación de objetos de lujo en el panorama de las transferencias culturales y artísticas entre el reino nazarí de Granada, el Magreb y Castilla en la Baja Edad Media.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Baja Edad Media / Al-Andalus / Castilla / Circulación de objetos suntuarios / Transferencias artísticas
The Siculo-Arabic Ivories and Their Spreading to al-Andalus
Journal of Transcultural Medieval Studies, 2017
From the mid-twelfth century to the first half of the thirteenth century, Norman Sicily was one o... more From the mid-twelfth century to the first half of the thirteenth century, Norman Sicily was one of the main centres of ivory work activity in the Western Mediterranean. Its workshops specialized in the crafting of ivory objects painted in various typologies according to manufacture techniques, and they are a splendid specimen of medieval quantity production. The extensive range of these pieces indicates the development of an almost industrialized manufacture whose products massively expanded and circulated throughout the Mediterranean region during the Late Middle Ages. Early on, al-Andalus received copies bearing these characteristics through the art trade and, once the Norman workshops ceased to exist, kept painted ivory production alive during the Naṣrid period by establishing its own manufacturing techniques that assimilated the techniques from the island while creating a thematic repertoire and some clearly personal aesthetic models.
CALVO CAPILLA, S. (ed.), Las artes en al-Andalus y Egipto. Contextos e Intercambios, 2017
ste trabajo analiza el interesante fenómeno de la transferencia de objetos suntuarios entre al-An... more ste trabajo analiza el interesante fenómeno de la transferencia de objetos suntuarios entre al-Andalus y otras cortes islámicas medievales particularizado en dos espléndidas series eborarias. Se estudia primero una pareja de arquetas producidas en Ifriqiya durante el período fatimí, cuyo ejemplar más significativo, patrocinado por el califa al-Mu‘izz, llegó a los reinos cristianos probablemente desde la España islámica. Se presta especial atención a reconstruir su trayectoria histórica, así como a esclarecer su posible función a partir de su peculiar morfología. Seguidamente se profundiza en el diálogo cultural y artístico que se estableció siglos después entre el Egipto mameluco y la corte nazarí a través de los problemas de catalogación de un grupo de píxides perforadas atribuidas por la historiografía tradicional indistintamente a los talleres áulicos de El Cairo o Granada.
This paper analyzes the interesting transfer of luxury objects between al-Andalus and other medieval Islamic courts through two splendid series of ivories. Firstly, a pair of Fatimid caskets carved in Ifriqiya are discussed; its most significant example, commissioned by the caliph al-Mu‘izz, is likely to have arrived to the Christian kingdoms from Muslim Spain. Its history and possible purpose –due its peculiar morphology–, are fully expounded. Subsequently I appraise the cultural and artistic dialogue, established centuries later, between Mamluk Egypt and the Nasri court, by means of addressing the cataloguing problems of a group of pierced pyxides indifferently ascribed by traditional historiography to courtly workshops of Cairo or Granada.
Diseño de Moda: Teoría e Historia de la Indumentaria. Revista del Centro Superior de Diseño de Moda de Madrid , Universidad Politécnica (CSDMM_UPM), 2016
RESUMEN: El siglo X constituyó en la Córdoba omeya un momento de interesantes cambios en la vesti... more RESUMEN: El siglo X constituyó en la Córdoba omeya un momento de interesantes cambios en la vestimenta y el peinado de los grupos sociales más privilegiados, consecuencia de una asimilación de tendencias provenientes del Califato abbasí. Este trabajo pretende rastrear estas novedades que afectaron a la moda a través de la iconografía principesca presente en algunas de las piezas eborarias conservadas.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Al-Andalus / Califato de Córdoba / Marfil / Eboraria /Vestimenta / Moda
ABSTRACT: The 10th century at Ummayad Córdoba was a moment of significant changes in the clothing and the hairstyle for the privileged classes as a result of an assimilation of trends from the Abbasid Caliphate. This paper intends to trace these fashion innovations through the courtly iconography found in some surviving ivory works.
KEYWORDS: Al-Andalus / Caliphate of Córdoba/ Ivory Works / Clothes / Fashion
Codex Aquilarensis, 2015
RESUMEN: El objeto de este trabajo es dar a conocer un lote de piezas taraceadas nunca hasta ahor... more RESUMEN: El objeto de este trabajo es dar a conocer un lote de piezas taraceadas nunca hasta ahora publicadas, pertenecientes a una colección privada leonesa. Esta comprende dos recipientes suntuarios de cronología nazarí, entre los que sobresale un posible tintero portátil, sobre cuya tipología se debate ampliamente, y otra arqueta ejecutada a fines de la Edad Media o principios de la Edad Moderna en talleres italianos, que evidencia la amplia propagación de esta técnica por Europa occidental.
ABSTRACT. The purpose of this paper is to make known an unpublished group of marquetry pieces belonging to a private collection from León. These comprise two Nasrid Era containers, which possibly include a portable inkwell –whose typology is extensively discussed–, and another inlaid casket produced between the Late Middle Ages or the Early Modern period in an Italian workshop, which evidences the wide diffusion of this technique in Western Europe.
Anales de Historia del Arte, 2015
La magnificencia y la ostentación constituyeron parte fundamental de la política de prestigio imp... more La magnificencia y la ostentación constituyeron parte fundamental de la política de prestigio implantada por los Omeyas en al-Andalus. Perpetuando la forma de actuación de los monarcas orientales, los soberanos andalusíes recurrieron con mucha frecuencia a presentes lujosos como expresión de su poder y autoridad, para lo cual instituyeron manufacturas artísticas estatales al servicio del príncipe. Dentro de estas industrias suntuarias, el taller áulico de marfil establecido en la ciudad palatina de Madīnat al-Zahrā' fue responsable de una de las producciones más sobresalientes y exquisitas de todo el Occidente medieval. Este artículo pretende, a partir de los restos materiales conservados, profundizar en el sofisticado discurso que, dentro del ámbito cortesano andalusí, se elaboró en torno al regalo como estructura de comunicación entre sujetos, y reflexionar acerca de las distintas categorías de obsequios eborarios comisionados por iniciativa regia en época califal.
Ivory gifts for women in caliphal Córdoba: marriage, maternity and sensuality
Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, 2014
The small but outstanding group of Andalusi ivories of the caliphal period includes some pieces d... more The small but outstanding group of Andalusi ivories of the caliphal period includes some pieces dedicated to women from the sovereign's immediate circle. Through these sublime remains, this paper seeks to reflect on women's involvement in the luxury artistic production of the Umayyad court in al-Andalus, analyzing the role of these high-ranking women as recipients and consumers of objects coming from the state ivory workshop, in connection with nuptial ceremonies and births, as well as with commissions bearing possible sensual or erotic content. I analyze the different social categories of people involved in the production of these boxes, looking at the lost functionality of the objects and at the particular decorative schemes that they incorporate.
Anales de Historia del Arte, 2012
Uploads
BOOKS by Noelia Silva Santa-Cruz
Papers by Noelia Silva Santa-Cruz
campaña granadina y utilizan los lenguajes artísticos andalusíes con gran habilidad, no solo para reflejar el lujo y la magnificencia, sino para reforzar los discursos identitarios ligados a la construcción de la imagen pública del linaje.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Baja Edad Media / Al-Andalus / Castilla / Circulación de objetos suntuarios / Transferencias artísticas
This paper analyzes the interesting transfer of luxury objects between al-Andalus and other medieval Islamic courts through two splendid series of ivories. Firstly, a pair of Fatimid caskets carved in Ifriqiya are discussed; its most significant example, commissioned by the caliph al-Mu‘izz, is likely to have arrived to the Christian kingdoms from Muslim Spain. Its history and possible purpose –due its peculiar morphology–, are fully expounded. Subsequently I appraise the cultural and artistic dialogue, established centuries later, between Mamluk Egypt and the Nasri court, by means of addressing the cataloguing problems of a group of pierced pyxides indifferently ascribed by traditional historiography to courtly workshops of Cairo or Granada.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Al-Andalus / Califato de Córdoba / Marfil / Eboraria /Vestimenta / Moda
ABSTRACT: The 10th century at Ummayad Córdoba was a moment of significant changes in the clothing and the hairstyle for the privileged classes as a result of an assimilation of trends from the Abbasid Caliphate. This paper intends to trace these fashion innovations through the courtly iconography found in some surviving ivory works.
KEYWORDS: Al-Andalus / Caliphate of Córdoba/ Ivory Works / Clothes / Fashion
ABSTRACT. The purpose of this paper is to make known an unpublished group of marquetry pieces belonging to a private collection from León. These comprise two Nasrid Era containers, which possibly include a portable inkwell –whose typology is extensively discussed–, and another inlaid casket produced between the Late Middle Ages or the Early Modern period in an Italian workshop, which evidences the wide diffusion of this technique in Western Europe.
campaña granadina y utilizan los lenguajes artísticos andalusíes con gran habilidad, no solo para reflejar el lujo y la magnificencia, sino para reforzar los discursos identitarios ligados a la construcción de la imagen pública del linaje.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Baja Edad Media / Al-Andalus / Castilla / Circulación de objetos suntuarios / Transferencias artísticas
This paper analyzes the interesting transfer of luxury objects between al-Andalus and other medieval Islamic courts through two splendid series of ivories. Firstly, a pair of Fatimid caskets carved in Ifriqiya are discussed; its most significant example, commissioned by the caliph al-Mu‘izz, is likely to have arrived to the Christian kingdoms from Muslim Spain. Its history and possible purpose –due its peculiar morphology–, are fully expounded. Subsequently I appraise the cultural and artistic dialogue, established centuries later, between Mamluk Egypt and the Nasri court, by means of addressing the cataloguing problems of a group of pierced pyxides indifferently ascribed by traditional historiography to courtly workshops of Cairo or Granada.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Al-Andalus / Califato de Córdoba / Marfil / Eboraria /Vestimenta / Moda
ABSTRACT: The 10th century at Ummayad Córdoba was a moment of significant changes in the clothing and the hairstyle for the privileged classes as a result of an assimilation of trends from the Abbasid Caliphate. This paper intends to trace these fashion innovations through the courtly iconography found in some surviving ivory works.
KEYWORDS: Al-Andalus / Caliphate of Córdoba/ Ivory Works / Clothes / Fashion
ABSTRACT. The purpose of this paper is to make known an unpublished group of marquetry pieces belonging to a private collection from León. These comprise two Nasrid Era containers, which possibly include a portable inkwell –whose typology is extensively discussed–, and another inlaid casket produced between the Late Middle Ages or the Early Modern period in an Italian workshop, which evidences the wide diffusion of this technique in Western Europe.