12021-11-03T13:54:43-07:00Who made this?10plain2023-01-23T08:53:13-08:00By Anne le Gassick '24
This relief was carved in Muslim-ruled Egypt, probably for display in a Christian church, by an artist of unknown faith in the early 1200s.
Features of Egyptian art represented in this piece are the design on Abraham’s robe, the beaded strips at the hem and upper arm, the tree with the articulated trunk, the floral scroll, and the bud shaped branches. The Panel with Horse Heads from the Metropolitan Museum of Art was also made in Egypt more than a century before the relief, in the eleventh century. Panels similar to this one are said to have been displayed in Fatimid, Ayyubid, and Mamluk buildings in Egypt, often as parts of a door. The Fatimids were known for their woodworking, including the high and low relief technique and the floral motifs seen in both the Sacrifice of Isaac and the Panel with Horse Heads.
