Ring inscribed "Blessing", 1100s

  • Islamic, Iranian

Gold, turquoise, and black compound

  • Overall: 1 1/4 × 5/8 inches (3.2 × 1.6 cm)

Founders Society Purchase with funds from Mrs. Charles C. Andrews

1993.69

On View

  • Islamic, Level 1, North

Department

Islamic Art

The Seljuks fashioned much of their jewelry from sheet metal and embellished it with stones. Heavy claws hold a turquoise on a high, truncated bezel that is decorated with engraved leafy arabesques and a Kufic inscription (“blessing”), picked out in niello (a mixture of gold, silver, lead, and copper sulfides).

Inscribed, side: al-baraka [translated: blessing]

(Said Motamed, Frankfurt, Germany)

1993-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

Henshaw, Julia P., ed. A Visitors Guide: The DIA. Detroit, 1995, p. 123 (ill.).

Islamic, Iranian, Ring inscribed "Blessing", 1100s, gold, turquoise, and black compound. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase with funds from Mrs. Charles C. Andrews, 1993.69.