Fragment of a wall decoration with a flying bird

Fragment of a wall decoration with a flying bird

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Sasanian houses at Ma’aridh in the Ctesiphon area were decorated with stucco reliefs of dancers, animals and foliage. This fragment depicts a bird in flight with the wing extending back from the body. The bird would have been part of a larger scene covering a wall or archway. The city of Ctesiphon was located on the east bank of the Tigris River, 20 miles (32 km) south of modern Baghdad in Iraq. It flourished for more than 800 years as the capital of the Parthians and the Sasanians, the last two dynasties to rule the ancient Near East before the Islamic conquest in the seventh century. Systematic excavations in the Ctesiphon area were undertaken by an expedition in 1928–29 sponsored by the German Oriental Society (Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft). The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Staatliche Museen, Berlin, undertook a joint expedition for one season in 1931–32. Several excavations were conducted, including at the main palace (Taq-i Kisra), in a small fortified area south of the palace at Tell Dheheb, at multiple houses at the mounds of Ma’aridh, and at additional houses at a small mound called Umm ez-Za’tir.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Fragment of a wall decoration with a flying birdFragment of a wall decoration with a flying birdFragment of a wall decoration with a flying birdFragment of a wall decoration with a flying birdFragment of a wall decoration with a flying bird

The Met's Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art cares for approximately 7,000 works ranging in date from the eighth millennium B.C. through the centuries just beyond the emergence of Islam in the seventh century A.D. Objects in the collection were created by people in the area that today comprises Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean coast, Yemen, and Central Asia. From the art of some of the world's first cities to that of great empires, the department's holdings illustrate the beauty and craftsmanship as well as the profound interconnections, cultural and religious diversity, and lasting legacies that characterize the ancient art of this vast region.