Portrait of a Couple in a Round Pendant

Two Enameled Gold Pendants: MMA 20.106.2, .5

The enamels of Qajar Iran are figurative, and closely resemble in style oil paintings produced in Iran during the same period; other Iranian arts differ from those of India by being more abstract and symmetrical—i.e., less realistic. Scenes of youths and lovers are typical of these enamels, as they are of the oil paintings, and both are valuable documents of style in costume and jewelry. Round or elliptical enamel plaques such as these are commonly set into water pipes or other utilitarian objects: seven such plaques on copper, originally from the same collection, are in the Museum's collection.

The enamel on the back of the smaller pendant is an undecorated opaque turquoise blue; that on the larger pendant is counter-enameled—in a somewhat muddy translucent green—over ten horizontal lines of engraving. The top line of engraving consists of a series of arrowlike signs separated by vertical strokes: the next six lines consist of an uninterrupted series of from nine to sixteen numbers, probably of occult significance; and the bottom three lines contain the inscription: "Allah! Allah! (God! God) Muhammad [the] Prophet/ 'Ali ibn Abi-Talib/ (Quli 2?)" Invocations to God, to the prophet Muhammad, and to his nephew 'Ali are ubiquitous in Iran during this period, and this one does not indicate anything about the piece beyond its having been made for a Muslim. Whether or not the bottom line is a signature (the word ''quli'' means "slave" and was a common name in Iran) is not known.

[Jenkins and Keene 1983]

Mrs. Frederick F. Thompson, New York (until 1920; gifted to MMA)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Islamic Jewelry in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 22–August 14, 1983, no. 73.

Jenkins-Madina, Marilyn, and Manuel Keene. Islamic Jewelry in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1983. no. 73, p. 131, ill. (b/w).