Madinat al-Zahra’ y la cronología de los cristales de roca egipcios conservados en España

Abstract

Forty pieces of rock crystal of supposed Egyptian origin, dated between the 9th and 12th centuries, are conserved in Spain. Some come from the antiques trade and others are materials of varied origin accumulated in goldsmith workshops. However, others are deposited in monasteries, churches and cathedrals and it is very probable that they have not moved from there since they were acquired. The detailed study of its historical trajectory allows to establish a relative chronology and, as a whole, to know the moment in which all these productions circulated in the northern kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. Until now nobody had ventured the possibility that some of these pieces had been manufactured in Al-Andalus, but the appearance in Madinat al-Zahra’ of a part of a cover and, especially, of rough rock cristal forces us to reconsider the traditional theories regarding the Egyptian origin of these manufactures and to propose the existence of a workshop in Madinat al-Zahra’ that, perhaps, did not become consolidated.