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Why is this imitation gallstone held in such an extravagant case?

"Works of art aren’t what they seem always."

"Works of art aren't what they seem always."

Curator Maryam Ekhtiar on a Goa stone enclosed in an ornate gold case.

Explore this object:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/454738

Throughout 2013, The Met invited curators from across the Museum to each talk about one artwork that changed the way they see the world. Each episode is interpreted by a Museum photographer.

Photography by Eileen Travell

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Contributors

Maryam Ekhtiar
Patti Cadby Birch Curator, Department of Islamic Art

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The artist’s work challenges the social and political context of mass incarceration.
Lisa Sutcliffe
April 28
Photo image of The Great Hall of the Met, with hanging calligraphy paintings
Explore how the Taiwanese artist’s Great Hall Commission invites a transhistorical conversation about the art of writing
Lesley Ma
February 28
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Goa Stone and Gold Case, Container: gold; pierced, repoussé, with cast legs and finials<br/>Goa stone: compound of organic and inorganic materials
late 17th–early 18th century