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
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...