Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Letter in Arabic Concerning Trade along the Nile
Not on view
Letters, receipts, and other documents written on papyri and ostraka (broken pots and stone fragments) that survive from Egypt provide a vivid picture of commercial activities in the Byzantine and early Islamic era. Together with coins, they prove that trade continued as political authority over the region was transformed.
A landholder from the Fayyum writes to the manager of his estate about an ongoing business trip and provides instructions for the continued maintenance of his lands. Although it is not clear what the landholder was selling, the letter is evidence of bustling commerce throughout the Islamic state, particularly along the Nile.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
