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Earrings and Pendant

11th–12th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 453
This pendant belongs to the same set as a pair of earrings the Museum acquired in 2006. It is constructed of gold sheet, wire, and filigree; the details of the decoration, including the two confronted birds joined by their beaks, were achieved with openwork filigree and fine granulation. A number of mushroom-shaped prongs decorated with granulation protrude from the pendant. The stem of each prong is pierced, suggesting that strings of tiny pearls once decorated this jewel. This beautifully constructed object has an immediate, strong aesthetic appeal. On the one hand, the best technical and aesthetic comparisons for it and the earrings can be found in the Greater Iranian region. On the other, the iconography of the confronted birds, the box construction, and, especially, strings of pearls were popular in Fatimid Syria and Egypt. That the prongs, a prominent feature of both the pendant and the matching earrings, appear to be unique makes a firm attribution even more difficult.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Earrings and Pendant
  • Date: 11th–12th century
  • Geography: Attributed to Iran
  • Medium: Gold; filigree and granulation
  • Dimensions: Max. diam. 2 5/16 in. (5.9 cm)
  • Classification: Jewelry
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Shamina Talyarkhan Gift, 2007
  • Object Number: 2007.340
  • Curatorial Department: Islamic Art

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Folio from a Mu'nis al-ahrar fi daqa'iq al-ash'ar (The Free Man's Companion to the Subtleties of Poems) of Jajarmi, Muhammad ibn Badr al-Din Jajarmi Iranian, Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Folio from a Mu'nis al-ahrar fi daqa'iq al-ash'ar (The Free Man's Companion to the Subtleties of Poems) of Jajarmi
Muhammad ibn Badr al-Din Jajarmi
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Incense Burner of Amir Saif al-Dunya wa’l-Din ibn Muhammad al-Mawardi, Ja`far ibn Muhammad ibn `Ali, Bronze; cast, engraved, chased, pierced
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