The contribution of a tiny ivory hand to the history of 11th-Century Iranian material culture

This paper consists of the study of a tiny ivory hand kept in the Department of Islamic Art of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (acc. no. 86.11.258). Due to the absence of information on the circumstances of its finding and the excavation context, the origin and dating of the artefact are uncertain. The only evidence for establishing a chronological and geographical context is found in the features of the artefact and its decoration. Nevertheless, the latter are quite specific and their morphological and iconographical analysis allows us to identify the tiny hand as part of a back scratcher and to trace its production back to 11th-century Iran.