Fragment

Art Historical Context

This modest earthenware fragment, dating to the 9th, offers a glimpse into the early Islamic world during the Abbasid Caliphate's golden age. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Department of Islamic Art, it just over 2 inches high and 6 inches wide, suggesting it is a surviving piece of a larger vessel or architectural element. Such unglazed ceramics were common in regions like Iraq, Syria, or Persia, where pottery production flourished alongside advancements in science, literature, and trade. Crafted from earthenware—a fired clay body unglazed to preserve its natural, earthy texture—...