In medieval Iran, carnelian is popularly found in jewelry owing largely to qualities such as its availability, toughness, and resistance to abrasion. According to al-Biruni, an eleventh-century polymath who wrote an important treatise on gemstones, carnelian was meant to provide courage in battle and cease hemorrhaging on the body. Excavated at Nishapur, this striking ring, therefore would have served as a talisman for its wearer.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Ring
Date:9th–11th century
Geography:Excavated in Iran, Nishapur
Medium:Silver; set with carnelian
Dimensions:H. 7/8 in. (2.2 cm) W. 7/8 in. (2.2 cm)
Classification:Jewelry
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1940
Accession Number:40.170.201
Six rings: MMA 40.170.202, .201, .156, 39.40.124, .123, .125
Among the finds of the Museum's excavations at Nishapur are several types of jewelry elements, and although they are limited in range, they constitute the bulk of the Metropolitan's early-Islamic jewelry. These six rings form an important group within the body of Nishapur jewelry, since they offer a glimpse of the historical progression out of the pre-Islamic past toward the more characteristic and fully developed style of later centuries.
Although varying in technique and design, nos. 40.170.202, .201 and 39.40.124, all of which have Roman precedents, may be regarded as a group.[1] Although hollow, like most of the Roman versions of this high-shouldered type, no. 39.40.124 seems the most developed along lines that certain medieval Islamic rings would follow. An almost identical ring, set with a faceted rock crystal stone cut in a way very similar to the pale amethyst no. 48.101.62a, was found in Crete.[2] Exaggeratedly high bezels on hollow rings were apparently extremely popular in Iran from the tenth century to the twelfth, judging from the number of extant examples, most of which are in private collections and unpublished.
The silver ring no. 39.40.123 represents a rather unskilled approach to a ring design whose culmination may be seen in no. 40.170.156. The simpler approach of the former involves only the attachment of a sheet-constructed conical bezel to a separately made solid shank, whereas the latter is sheet constructed and hollow throughout, with no apparent seams except in a small area along the inside of the rolled shank. The form of the bezel, particularly the rounded bottom contour, bespeaks high mastery of this construction; and if, as seems probable, the shank and bezel were constructed from one piece of sheet, the technical achievement of its maker is indeed remarkable. To judge from the quality of the few remnants of gold work in the collection from the Nishapur excavations (including the crescent-shape pendant no. 40.170.155), the number and quality of pieces reportedly and probably from Nishapur, and Nishapur's status as a great center of art, there is little reason to consider this ring as other than locally made.
The bronze ring no. 39.40.125, like nos. 40.170.202, .201 and 39.40.124, has quite obvious Roman antecedents.[3] Surely an inexpensive product in its day, this ring illustrates the availability of good, even striking design to those on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale.
[Jenkins and Keene 1983]
Footnotes:
1. Marshall, F. H. Catalogue of the Finger Rings, Greek, Etruscan and Roman, in the Department of Antiquities. The British Museum, London, 1907, nos. 526, 188; Pollak, L. Klassisch-Antike Goldschmiedearbeiten. Leipzig, 1903, nos. 452, 453.
2. Collection Helene Stathatos. Athens, 1971, vol. 2 [1957], p. 28 and pl. II, nos. 9, 10.
3. Marshall 1907 (note 1), nos. 640, 563 and especially Dalton, 0. M. Catalogue of Early Christian Antiquities and Objects from the Christian East. The British Museum, London, 1901, no. 48.
1937, excavated at Sabz Pushan in Nishapur, Iran by the Metropolitan Museum of Art's expedition; 1940, acquired by the Museum in the division of finds
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Islamic Jewelry in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 22–August 14, 1983, no. 1b.
Allan, James. Nishapur: Metalwork of the Early Islamic Period. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1982. p. 68, ill. fig. 49 (b/w).
Jenkins-Madina, Marilyn, and Manuel Keene. Islamic Jewelry in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1983. no. 1b, pp. 16–17, ill. (b/w).
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