Coin
Unknown Artist
dated A.H. 157/ 774 CE
Medium
Gold-plated copper
Classification
Coins
Department
Islamic Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1939
Accession Number
39.40.127.368
Art Historical Context
This exquisite gold-plated copper coin dated A.H. 157 (774 CE), hails from the early Abbasid Caliphate a golden age of Islamic civilization marked by the shift of power from Damascus to the newly founded Baghdad. As a numismatic artifact in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Islamic Art collection—acquired through the Rogers Fund in 1939—it offers a tangible glimpse into the economic and political life of the 8th century. Acquired anonymously by an unknown artist or mint, such coins were everyday instruments of trade, circulating across a vast empire from Spain to Central Asia. Crafted from cop...