IRAN, 11TH-13TH CENTURY

A very similar bracelet reportedly found at Gurgan and attributed to the 11-13th Century is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. 52.32.2; Marilyn Jenkins and Manuel Keene, Islamic Jewelry in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1982, no.22). The example in the Metropolitan Museum also has a rounded terminal with niello decoration. The meandering arabesque niello decoration on the rounded terminals on our bracelets are very similar to the niello decoration on a set of belt trappings in the British Museum. The belt trappings were found at Nihavand in Western Iran and attributed to the 11th-12th century. A series of five bracelets of comparable age and construction were part of a private collection which was offered at Spink, (Michael Spink, Islamic Jewellery, exhibition catalogue, London, 1996, nos. 51-54, p.21).