Bracelet
14th-15th century
Medium
Glass
Dimensions
0.6 × 6.4 × 6.4 cm (1/4 × 2 1/2 × 2 1/2 in.)
Classification
glass
Department
Arts of Africa
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
941
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
For hundreds of years, women up and down the eastern coast of Africa wore bracelets like these as highly fashionable accessories. Simple monochromatic glass bangles first became common in Egypt beginning in the Ptolemaic Period (332–30 BCE), with multiple color chips and new designs emerging during the Roman period (30 BCE–395 CE). After the arrival of Islam in the 7th century, elaborately designed bracelets became the norm. Glass workshops continued to produce such bangles until the end of the ...
About the Artist
Islamic
Islamic art, a profound visual tradition originating in the 7th century CE, flourished across vast territories from Spain to India under Muslim rule, encompassing architecture, ceramics, manuscripts, textiles, and metalwork produced by diverse artisans rather than a single named master. Drawing from pre-Islamic Sasanian, Byzantine, and late antique influences, its early development under the Umayy...