What is this?
Pyxides are small cylindrical boxes meant to hold varying objects. Greeks used them as storage for small objects like makeup, Christians used them to hold the sacred Eucharist, and during the medieval Islamic period, they were used to contain an early form of laundry detergent in powder form.
This pyxis in particular is quite elegant and was most likely used for more expensive objects like jewelry. This pyxis is also different from other pyxides because it has no written inscriptions. This makes the interpretation even more unique because there are only visual aspects to help us understand the purpose of it, who made it, what they were trying to depict, and most of it could be speculation! Through inference and comparison of this piece to others, it has been established that this piece was probably made for a Christian, by a Muslim from Iraq.
