Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Luster-Painted Flask
Not on view
Vegetal motifs drawing upon Byzantine and Sasanian forms developed in the arts of the Umayyad and early Abbasid period in the territories, once the southern provinces of the Byzantine Empire. Based on these traditions, the abstract forms and styles of ornament that subsequently developed at the Abbasid capital at Samarra would have a profound impact on the art and architecture of the Islamic world.
Originating in more realistic Byzantine vine patterns, the graceful vines and handsomely drawn leaves on this flask are rendered flatly with no attempts at naturalism. The arrangement of the vines and leaves enhances the shape of the flask.
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