Dowry bracelet

ca. 1000-1100

The Arabic inscription inside this finely crafted gold bracelet expresses wishes for happiness and contentment for an unidentified woman. It was likely made for a dowry for a woman from a wealthy but not a royal family. Around the outside are sculpted doves alternating with cones, common motifs in Persian jewelry at the time.

Cast and chased gold with granulation

1 9/16 in. (4 cm)

Diam.: 2 13/16 in.

6. oz (.17 kg)

Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection

68.21

Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Now on view at the Asian Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistoryLos Angeles, California, Los Angeles County Museum Of Art, Jewelry Of The Ancient World, May 20 - July 13, 1969.

Utah, Provo, Brigham Young University, Beauty and Belief: Crossing Bridges with the Arts of Islam, February 24, 2012 - Nov. 2013.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing.

Published ReferencesAl Khemir, Sabiha, "Beauty and Belief: Crossing Bridges with the Arts of Islamic Culture", Brigham Young University Museum of Art, 2012, pp. 52, 207, illus.

Rosen-Ayalon, Myriam. "Four Iranian Bracelets Seen in the Light of Early Islamic Art," in Islamic Art In the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1972. Pp. 169-186.

Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles County Museum Of Art, "Jewelry Of The Ancient World", cat. 69

Rogers, Millard B. "Engagement Book: Iranian Art in the Seattle Art Museum," Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1972, fig. 26.

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