Wall decoration with geometric and floral decoration

Wall decoration with geometric and floral decoration

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The slightly curved surface of this fragmentary panel suggests that it covered the underside of a rounded vault. Its pattern appears to have continued on both sides; therefore this piece belonged to a larger decorated field that spread across the vault.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Wall decoration with geometric and floral decorationWall decoration with geometric and floral decorationWall decoration with geometric and floral decorationWall decoration with geometric and floral decorationWall decoration with geometric and floral decoration

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.