Turquoise inlay
Object PlaceRayy, Iran
Medium/TechniquePrecious Stone (non-specific)
DimensionsD. .016 x .014
Credit LineUniversity Museum—M. F. A. Persian Expedition
Accession number39.340
On View
Not on viewClassificationsJewelry / Adornment
Collections
Located near Tehran, the capital of Iran, the city of Rayy was inhabited nearly continuously from the third millennium B.C.E. From the seventh through the sixteenth centuries, Rayy was an important political, scholarly, and artistic center of the early and medieval Islamic empires that ruled in the region. The city's strategic location also made it a nexus for trade. While the medieval city is no longer extant, Rayy's material culture illustrates the city's position as an economic, scientific, and literary cross-roads.
Provenance1936, excavated at Rayy (Chal Turkhan, in present-day Iran), by the University Museum-M.F.A. Persian Expedition; 1939, assigned to the MFA as part of the division of excavated objects. (Accession Date: January 12, 1939)Islamic I or II (7th–12th century)
57 B.C.–A.D. 668
20th century
1368–1644
18th century