Gold coin dated to 694/695 AD, is part of the MET Museum's Byzantium and Islam exhibition. The Byzantine Empire issued these gold solidus primarily for large transactions such as tax payments. Copper coins were the money of daily business transactions. Mints in Antioch and Alexandria supplied the majority of the coinage circulated in the southern provinces.
The newly established Arab government inherited the efficient monetary system from Byzantium and made few changes during its first decades. The caliph ‘Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705) introduced several issues of distinctively Islamic coinage. Beginning in the 690s ‘Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705) issued a series of coins depicting a standing caliph. Although the rare precious-metal coins do not bear a mintmark, they were presumably struck in Damascus. The copper coins were issued at sixteen mints.
This is the final Umayyad series of coins to depict a human image. Loosely based on Byzantine coinage, the gold issues replace the figure of the Byzantine emperor with that of the bearded caliph wearing an Arab headdress, possibly a kaffiya, a long robe, and a sword girt around his waist. The shahada, written in Arabic, circles the obverse.
The caliph ‘Abd al-Malik (r. 685–705) instituted significant change in coinage. His early issues struck in gold, silver, and copper replaced the image of the emperor with that of the caliph, removed the Christian cross, and used religious inscriptions, such as the shahada, the profession of faith.
The Byzantine Empire did not issue silver coins. This example, modeled on the Sasanian drachma of Khusrau II, retains the sovereign’s portrait and the Zoroastrian fire altar and adds the shahada in Arabic on the obverse. Unlike ‘Abd al-Malik’s gold and copper coins, this coin bears the mint and year on the reverse.
Fals of Amman Date: ca. 692–697
Most mints produced copper coins with an image of the caliph, the inscription "The Servant of God, ‘Abd al-Malik, Commander of the Faithful," and the shahada. The object on the reverse of this coin may be the qutb (pole), symbolizing the caliph as the center of the community.
This woven-to-shape tunic (Egypt 5th-7th Century) constructed of heavy woolen fabric was likely an outer garment for a man of considerable means. The decoration—a combination of humans, animals, and mythological creatures in alternating squares and roundels—relies on a contrast between light and dark, a standard design element in late antique tunics.
New methods of crafting jewelry became popular during the early Islamic period, transforming the aesthetics of personal adornment. These crescent-shaped earrings (Egypt or Syria 7th-8th Century) display confronted birds—by now, three-dimensional in shape. The preference for filigree and wire decoration results in sophisticated, intricate designs visually distinct from Byzantine traditions.
Vegetal motifs drawing upon Byzantine and Sasanian forms developed in the arts of the Umayyad and early Abbasid period in the territories, once the southern provinces of the Byzantine Empire. Based on these traditions, the abstract forms and styles of ornament that subsequently developed at the Abbasid capital at Samarra would have a profound impact on the art and architecture of the Islamic world. Originating in more realistic Byzantine vine patterns, the graceful vines and handsomely drawn leaves on this flask are rendered flatly with no attempts at naturalism. The arrangement of the vines and leaves enhances the shape of the flask.
Luster-Painted Cup (786/787 AD) Made in, Syria, Damascus
The graceful Arabic inscription encircling the rim as on Byzantine vessels identifies the place of production, names the craftsman, and gives a blessing: "In the name of God the Merciful, the Compassionate, God’s blessing on the person who drinks from this cup, which was made in Damascus by the hand of Sunbat.[?] in the year 1."
The Kufic calligraphy, with its intricate floral endings, on this panel from a marble cenotaph states the bismillah, "In the name of God the Merciful the Compassionate." As funerary inscriptions often begin with this phrase, followed by verses from the Qur’an and information about the deceased, that information probably would have appeared on the rest of the cenotaph. The decorative Kufic script on this panel developed from the austere angular Kufic used for earlier inscriptions.
Few objects demonstrate the inventiveness of early Islamic artists as elegantly as the now-dispersed Blue Qur’an (900-950 AD - Made in, Probably Tunisia - Gold leaf, silver, and ink on parchment colored with indigo). The manuscript reflects an awareness of Byzantine purple-dyed luxury manuscripts written in gold and silver. The later Muslim scribes’ innovations, however, are evident in the manuscript’s horizontal format, indigo-dyed blue parchment, and golden Kufic script. The combination gold and blue may have carried heavenly associations, as the same color scheme was used in the Qur’anic inscriptions in the Dome of the Rock dating to roughly the same period.
No comments:
Post a Comment