Bracelet

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This bracelet is comprised of a slender ring of silver with flat terminals that curl back on themselves. The terminals flank a pin that connects them, running through three silver loops. The best parallels for this bracelet date to the 11th century A.D. However, the form could very well have originated earlier, in the Sasanian period.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art