Fragment of textile with horses

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This vertical strip of silk-weave fabric has a repeating pattern of winged horses in pearl roundels. The horses alternate facing left and right, with outstretched wings and knotted tails. Each wears a pearl band with fluttering ribbons around the neck, a ball-and-crescent headdress supported by a shaft, and ankle fillets. The roundels’ pearl border is interrupted at the top, bottom, and sides by concentric squares. In the background, stylized blossoming trees are flanked by floral elements enclosed in a motif with a rounded top. This textile motif is typically Sasanian and similar patterns appear on the rock reliefs of Taq-i Bustan, Iran. Winged horses are also featured on Sasanian metalwork and stamp seals, and the ball-and-crescent headdress is comparable to royal crowns depicted on Sasanian coins. Sasanian textiles were exported throughout the ancient world and their manufacture and iconography reflect the artistic transformations and adaptations that occurred along the Silk Road. Their major centers of production, however, remain unknown.

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