Bracelet

Gold Bracelet

This gold bracelet bears a number of features found on Iranian objects. The filigree hemispheres are composed of a twisted wire design identical to that on the beads of earrings MMA nos. 52.4.7, .8 and at the junctures of the ribs of nos. 52.4.5, .6. It is identical even in the extra circle of twisted wire that is added to form a three-petal leaf within the heart-shape area. Such hemispheres are not, however, peculiar to Iran. They form spacer beads found in Syria (National Museum, Damascus, 30534) and in Caesarea;[1] they are also found on the pair of bracelets shared by the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and the National Museum, Damascus.[2] The truncated pyramidal units with which the filigree hemispheres alternate bear a pseudo-Kufic incised and bitumen-highlighted decoration not unlike that seen on several previously.

[Jenkins and Keene 1983]

1. Jenkins, Marilyn, and Keene, Manuel. "Djawhar." The Encyclopaedia of Islam, supplement to vol. 2, fasc. 3–4. Leiden, 1982, fig. 15.

2. Ibid., fig. 16a; Al-'Ush, Abu-1-Faraj, Joundi, A. and Zouhdi, B. Catalogue du Musee National de Damas. Damascus, 1969, fig. 116.

Fletcher family, Germany (ca. 1936–76); [ Mohammad Yeganeh, London, 1976; sold to MMA]

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Islamic Jewelry in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 22–August 14, 1983, no. 37.

Jenkins-Madina, Marilyn, and Manuel Keene. Islamic Jewelry in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1983. no. 37, p. 68–9, ill. p. 68 (b/w).