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Shadow Box of religious Mother-of-Pearl Carvings - Bethlehem

Posted by Peter Hoesli on February 25, 2016 at 10:36pm

Mother-of-Pearl carving is a traditional handicraft in Bethlehem and said to have been brought to the city by Franciscan friars from Italy in the 15th century. They arranged these carvings for tourists to finance their stay in the Holy Land. Such shadow boxes, same as the intricately carved shells (previously posted here on EJ) very much belong to a Palestinian collection of jewelry and dresses, and can also be seen in the museum of Madame Widad Kawar in Amman. These boxes always feature religious carvings, mostly of the Nativity and Last Supper scenes. It is, however, difficult and very rare to find such a large antique shadow box (60 cm high), incorporating two, respectively three scenes.

Comments

Linda Pastorino February 27, 2016 at 6:55pm

this is one of the nicer ones of this type i have seen. If you want to buy one Peter I know of several available for sale however they usually are not inexpensive unless one finds them on line and or at auction. They do come up for sale here though.
ingrid Langerak March 27, 2016 at 10:38pm

Dear Peter.Beautiful, I saw a whole museum full in the old Hermitage in Amsterdam, and was impressed. I love the soft pink color tomake it warm. Stunning work and interesting the scenery so elaborated performed.

Toppy again Gr. Ingrid.
Betty March 28, 2016 at 11:38am

Magnificent, Peter! You cannot even begin to imagine the number of hours spent on completing such a work of art. Have you acquired this one? Kind regards, Betty.
Peter Hoesli March 28, 2016 at 7:20pm

Dear Linda, Ingrid and Betty; Many thanks for your comments. Yes, Betty, I have purchased this beauty at an auction in Canada. I am so pleased with it. It will fit beautifully in my new house (villa from 1780) in Netstal-Glarus-Switzerland , which I have bought in January and am renovating now... With kind regards. Peter
berberia March 30, 2016 at 7:55pm

Wow, Peter, this is an amazingly beautiful piece. A masterpiece, no doubt.