(Continued)
Objects from one culture often acquired new meaning when exported to another. An example is the enameled glass beaker known as the "Luck of Edenhall," which was made in Egypt or Syria in the thirteenth century. By the fourteenth century, the vessel was in Europe and spent most of its life at Edenhall, a house in northern England, where it was used as a chalice in the Christian liturgy. Later on, its origin was forgotten and the chalice became the subject of a legend. It was said to be a magic object that had been left at a well by fairies feasting, one of whom cried: "If this cup should break or fall, farewell the luck of Edenhall." The house was demolished in 1926, yet the fragile glass vessel survives. The international pattern of commerce sometimes fostered similar tastes in disparate lands. Ottoman velvets can be indistinguishable from Florentine or Venetian textiles; sinuous, arabesque patterns recur on inlaid metalwork produced in Egypt, Syria, and Italy; and some carved ivories are variously attributed to southern Italy or Fatimid Egypt. The wealth of artistic interaction between the Islamic Middle East and Europe was such that some works cannot be easily assigned to one culture and instead reflect a shared aesthetic.