Students
Raphael Sittbon-Taylor, Alexander Essig
Project Description
The motivation behind this project comes from a common fascination for this period of time by all 3 of our group members. Indeed, having all taken NES (Near Eastern Studies) classes, we have found aspects of Arabic culture and history fascinating. Therefore, this project is a great opportunity for us to showcase a chest from that time period which has intrigued all of us. Our inspiration for this project stems from each of our own individual interests in this area of history. Baghdad constituted the epicenter of Arabian art, culture, and science during what many historians consider the “Golden Age of Islam;” by the late-10th century, the city had grown o be the largest in the world. This project is simultaneously of immense historical significance–our group intends to showcase this awe-inspiring period in history. Some of the objective metrics we intend to consider when assessing the performance of our project include artistic similarity to the original chest’s design and structure (carve shapes, colors, textures, etc.) as well as weight of the overall chest. We expect to be able to open and close this chest with the help of hinges. Furthermore, we want the chest to have metal handles for transportation. The sides of the chest will have decorations inspired by “The Golden Age of Islam”, which we will make using the X-Carve.
We plan on donating this chest to a local charity, professor, or history department if we find someone interested. Over the course of this project, the design of the chest has remained the same aside from the fact that the design on the exterior will now be a dog. We will be lining the carved sections with mother of pearl.