Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Pyxis with Vine Scrolls and Birds
Not on view
Indicative of social status, these three circular, bellied-shape ivory boxes were luxury objects produced for the elite. Each is decorated with vine scrolls springing from pots, a Byzantine motif drawn from the world of the classical god Dionysos that was also popular during the early Islamic period.
This box, carved from a single piece of ivory, does not feature Christian iconography, attesting to the importance of the growing Muslim market.
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