Coin

Art Historical Context

This delicate copper coin, minted around the 7th–8th century CE during the early Islamic period, a tangible glimpse into the dawn of a transformative era in the Ancient Near East. Measuring just 9/16 inch (1.4 cm) in diameter, it belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of's Ancient Near Eastern Art collection, acquired through the Rogers Fund in 1936. As a classified example of inscribed metalwork, its surface likely bears Arabic script—a hallmark of early Islamic coinage that marked a shift from the figural designs of preceding Byzantine and Sasanian traditions. In the formative years of Islam, u...