Gold Ensemble for the Head or Neck
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.This gold jewelry hints at the wealth of the inhabitants of Ascalon, a port south of Jerusalem. The city was no backwater, but rather a thriving link to Cairo and the mercantile world beyond. Known as mushabbak (latticework) in contemporary documents, the technique used here is associated with Islamic art but also corresponds to descriptions of jewels in the trousseaux of Jewish brides. The expression of refined taste was limited only by means, not by religious tradition.
Artwork Details
- Title: Gold Ensemble for the Head or Neck
- Date: 11th–12th century
- Geography: Made in Ascalon
- Culture: Fatimid
- Medium: Gold filigree, wire, granulation, strips, beads, and sheet
- Dimensions: 2 5/8 × 2 in. (6.7 × 5.1 cm)
- Classification: Metalwork-Gold
- Credit Line: Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem, exhibited at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (IAA 1986.672, 1986.673, 1987.939, 1987.940)
- Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters