Pendant
Unknown Artist
3rd–12th century
Medium
Mother of pearl
Dimensions
H. 1 9/16 in. (4 cm) W. 1 9/16 in. (4 cm) D. 1/8 in. (0.3 cm)
Classification
Jewelry
Department
Islamic Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Helen Miller Gould, 1910
Accession Number
10.130.1163
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
This delicate mother-of-pearl pendant represents the refined decorative arts produced across the Islamic world over nine centuries. Dated broadly to the 3rd-12th century, this small jewelry piece—measuring just over an inch and a half in each dimension—demonstrates the high value placed on lustrous materials and geometric perfection in Islamic art. Mother-of-pearl, prized for its iridescent beauty and symbolic associations with purity, was extensively used in Islamic decorative arts for both por...