Textile fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This textile fragment is part of the shoulder and neckline of a garment. It is made of cotton-lined felt, and has a blue silk cord to secure the opening at the neck. Given its small size, it was likely made for a child. It was excavated at Shahr-i Qumis in northern Iran, which has been identified as the ancient city of Hecatompylos, established by the Parthians as their capital by about 200 B.C. In Greek Hecatompylos means ‘a hundred gates,’ suggesting that the city was quite large. Indeed, the modern archaeological site includes several mounds, only a few of which have been excavated, and a vast area covered with potsherds. It comes from Site IV, a large building which was completely filled with dirt sometime in the late 1st century B.C. or early 1st century A.D. The silk cord on this fragment is the earliest known piece of silk yet discovered in Iran, and in all likelihood it was imported from China via the overland caravan routes commonly called the ‘Silk Roads.’ Indeed, the Parthians were the primary middlemen in the trade between Rome and China in this 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