Lunchtime Lectures: Agatha Christie and the Case of the Syrian Cabinet

In 2023, the V&A acquired a spectacular Chest of Drawers, covered in mother-of-pearl inlay, made in Syria in the late 19th or early 20th century. This chest had been bought by the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie (1890-1976), on her first trip to Damascus in 1928. Her ownership of the chest and the date – just before Christmas – is written in Arabic in an inlaid inscription on the top of the chest.

 

This trip marked a significant turning point in her life – soon after her high-profile divorce from Archibald Christie, and the discovery of a love of the Middle East that would introduce her to her second husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan (1904-1978). Did Agatha already recognise the significance of this moment in her life, and buy the chest of drawers to commemorate this?

 

In the decades following Christie's death, the chest passed through several hands until it came to be owned by Carol Smith (1939-2023), a literary agent turned successful crime writer. Her executors bequeathed the chest to the V&A.

 

To mark the 50th anniversary of Agatha Christie's death, this talk will explore what we can reconstruct about how Christie bought this chest of drawers, what happened to it after her death, as well as her profound interest in the Middle East, and the craft of Syrian mother-of-pearl inlay.

Mariam Rosser-Owen is the Curator for the Arab World collections at the V&A, specialising in the arts of the Islamic West. She was the Principal Investigator for the research project ‘Crafting Medieval Spain: the Torrijos Ceiling in the global museum’, and she is currently researching the V&A’s holdings of Islamic woodwork.

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