Shared Tastes: The Griffin of Pisa and the circulation of Islamic motifs in the Medieval Mediterranean.

• Grant number: 23/12048-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: May 01, 2024
• End date: July 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Arts - Art Fundamentals and Criticism
• Principal Investigator: Flavia Galli Tatsch
• Grantee: Camila Palaio Martorelli
• Host Institution: Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (EFLCH). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Guarulhos. Guarulhos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/02912-3 - A connected history of the Middle Ages: communication and circulation from the Mediterranean Sea, AP.TEM
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/15078-0 - The reuse of Islamic metalwork objects in Pisa and Lucca, 11th and 12th centuries., BE.EP.MS

Abstract

Dating from the 11th-12th centuries, the Griffin of Pisa is a bronze statue in the shape of a griffin, a mythical being with the body of a lion and the face and wings of a bird, which adorned the roof of Pisa Cathedral until 1828. The object brings with it some concerns: in addition to the representation of an animal whose origin goes back to the East, more precisely to Persia, the entire statue is engraved with Islamic stylistic motifs and Kufic inscriptions. The origin and reception of this production have few references, however, it can be considered a demonstration of how zoomorphic articles made of metal, which had long been produced in regions of Islamic culture, became popular in the Mediterranean region during this period. In this way, the project seeks to understand, based on metal productions, the reception of the Griffon and Islamic motifs by Italian communes, as well as building some parallels with other metal objects, in order to draw up a socio-cultural survey of shared tastes and inter-territorial interactions at the time.