Cabinet doors

This cabinet door was acquired in the early 20th century from an antique dealer working in Granada. It comes from the Palacio de los Infantes, an edifice located in the centre of town that was destroyed during the advancement of La Gran Vía.

It is composed of a frame and two doors, which are connected to the frame by four bronze hinges. The doors were undoubtedly originally joined to the frame by other hinges which have since disappeared. The frame is decorated only on the exterior, whereas the doors are decorated on both sides.  

A profuse ornamentation on the exterior of the doors is formed of interlacing motifs in bands that enclose small polygons. This interlaced design is bordered by a two-fold strand. This very refined decoration also shows exquisite technical mastery. The pieces are executed in marquetry of wood and bone that alternates between green, grey and black. On the exterior, the material has been glued to the wood to form the general framework of the doors.

Inside, the ornamentation is more sober: it can be reduced to a large rectangle with angles formed of knots. This rectangle encloses eight-pointed stars and squares. Here, the pieces that constitute the marquetry are encrusted into the support, leaving large parts in bare cyprus wood, allowing for an appreciation of its qualities. The marquetry design is geometric and plays on an array of different colours and materials. The resulting harmony, the sober quality of the colours, the excellent tracery, the beauty and sumptuous character of the doors’ decoration, as well as the rarity of the object itself, give this piece its great importance as an illustration of marquetry’s development—an Oriental technique—in the western Islamic world.

The art of marquetry originally came from the Orient. It was introduced to the West via al-Andalus. Historical records indicate that the caliphal workshops produced high quality marquetry such as that of the minbar of the Great Mosque in Córdoba—one of the most famous examples of its type. In later periods, during the Almoravid and Almohad caliphates, works were often commissioned, this being the case of the minbar of the Kutubiyya (constructed in Córdoba towards 1150), which is currently in the al-Badi palace at Marrakesh. The minbar of the madrasa marinid Bû ’Inânîyya at Fès (14th century) is another magnificent realization in marquetry, contemporaneous with these cabinet doors.

Another example of marquetry design on an Egyptian cabinet door attributed to the 14th century is in conservation at the Benaki Museum in Athens[1]. The motifs and technique of its marquetry are, however, very different from that on the door of the Palacio de los Infantes at Granada.  

This meticulous technique took root in al-Andalus and survived even after the expulsion of the Moors. It continued throughout the 17th and 18th centuries; although only to a small degree in certain places such as Granada. In the 16th century, after the discovery of America, some of the traditional craftsmanship from al-Andalus crossed the Atlantic and continued to be exercised in local areas. It has been surprising to discover a major, vibrant production of furniture with marquetry in Puebla (Mexico), while in Spain, the art is fast disappearing.