Pendant11th century

On view:

Geffen Galleries, Islamic Art and Late Antiquity

Title: Pendant
Place Made: Iran or Afghanistan, Khurasan
Date Made: 11th century
Medium: Gold with garnets
Dimensions: 2 x 2 x 3/8 in. (5.08 x 5.08 x .9525 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Ahmanson Foundation and Indian Art Fund
Accession Number: M.81.7
Classification: Jewelry and Adornments
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Islamic
Curatorial Notes: Much of what is known about personal adornment from the medieval Islamic world is largely limited to jewelry since textiles deteriorate quickly and few garments survive. While jewelry is also rare since it was frequently melted down, extant pieces like this element from a necklace provide an idea of the types of fashions available in eleventh-century Iran. A number of features, like the delicate filigree work, are shared with contemporaneous Egyptian and Syrian jewelry, revealing the exchange of styles across the Islamic world.
Selected Bibliography: Lo Terrenal y lo Divino: Arte Islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Ángeles. Santiago: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015.
Komaroff, Linda. Beauty and Identity: Islamic Art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2016.