Ring

Two rings: MMA 1980.541.6 and Benaki Museum, Athens TE 1888

These rings represent two styles of production and shape that were current and, apparently, worn by many people in Seljuq Iran. The design of the ring set with a tourmaline bead (MMA 1980.541.6) conforms to that of a number of Seljuq examples in which an oval cabochon stone is held in place by four prongs soldered to the exterior of a truncated bezel.[1] Below each prong is an openwork ornament; between each of these and below the ornament along the shank, or ring proper, is a narrow band of incised scrolling filled with a black ituminous material. Another area of applied gold decoration appears below this, extending toward the knob, called a sprue, at the back of the ring. Variations of this type of ring include ones with a flat, inscribed stone used as a seal. Such rings would have been worn by men, but as an illustration and passage in Warqa and Gulshah indicate, men or their agents presented them to women as tokens of love. In one episode Warqa asks Gulshah’s servant to bring her a bowl of milk into which he has dropped his ring. As she is about to drink the milk, she spies the ring and recognizes it as “the seal of Warqa.” In the illustration the ring appears to be gold, set with a stone.[2]

Owing to its filigree and granulation, the ring with a rectangular bezel (Benaki Museum, Athens TE 1888) relates very closely to Fatimid jewelry.[3] However, the presence of human figures flanking a Tree of Life, pairs of birds, and the presence of a crowned human head on the sides of the shank have led to its Seljuq attribution. Whereas birds appear in Fatimid earrings and pendants, human figures are rare and attested in repoussé rather than in filigree and granulation. [4] By the twelfth century some goldsmiths may have emigrated from Egypt or
Syria to Iran following the collapse of the Fatimid dynasty in 1171, bringing their techniques with them and applying them to new designs.

Sheila R. Canby in [Canby, Beyazit, and Rugiadi 2016]

Footnotes:

1. Content, Derek J., et al. Islamic Rings and Gems: The Benjamin Zucker Collection. London, 1987, pp. 57–58, nos. 19, 20; Islamic Jewellery. Dealer cat., Spink and Son, London, April 15–May 9, 1986. London, 1986, p. 46, no. 33.

2. Melikian-Chirvani, Assadullah Souren. “Le roman de Varqe et Golšâh.” Arts asiatiques 22 (1970), p. 189 and p. 41, fig. 55.

3. Islamic Jewelry in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1983. Catalogue by Marilyn Jenkins and Manuel Keene. New York, [1983], p. 83, no. 49b. See also Content et al. 1987 (note 1 above), p. 44, no. 13.

4. Jenkins and Keene 1983 (note 3 above), p. 78, no. 45.


Medieval Iranian Rings: nos. 52.32.5, 52.32.6 and 1980.541.6

Two medieval Iranian ring types are represented by nos. 52.32.5, 52.32.6, and 1980.541.6. The shanks of nos. 52.32.5 and 1980.541.6 are not unrelated to the shank of MMA no. 1976.405, although they are less elaborate.[1] The heavy setting claws on all three rings, as well as the style of the rectangular sealstone of 52.32.5, are further confirmations of the date and place of origin. The conjunction of a ring and its original sealstone, as in the latter case, is valuable in that each part helps to provide a context for the other. This is the earliest sealstone in the Museum's collection that bears a cursive script. A particularly beautiful example of this type, also with its original sealstone (of red jasper), is in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore (57.59.6).

No. 52.32.6, in contrast, harks back to the hollow gold and silver rings from Nishapur (e.g. nos. 40.170.201, .202, .156), which also show a development from Roman models. An additional element here, however—as with a number of other known hollow Persian rings of the period—are the heavy claws so characteristic of this school.

[Jenkins and Keene 1983]

Footnotes:

1. Segall, Berta. Museum Benaki, Katalog der Goldschmiede-Arbeiten. Athens, 1938, no. 306, pl. 59; Korzukhina, G. F. Russkie Kindy IX-Xlllvv. Moscow, 1954, no. 13, pl. XXIX.

Alice N. Heeramaneck, New York (until 1980; gifted to MMA)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Islamic Jewelry in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 22–August 14, 1983, no. 33c.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Court and Cosmos: The Great Age of the Seljuqs," April 25–July 24, 2016, no. 30.

Jenkins-Madina, Marilyn, and Manuel Keene. Islamic Jewelry in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1983. no. 33c, p. 64, ill. (b/w).

Canby, Sheila R., Deniz Beyazit, and Martina Rugiadi. "The Great Age of the Seljuqs." In Court and Cosmos. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016. no. 30, p. 102, ill. (color).