Inscribed Pound Weight
(Islamic World )
This green glass weight is among the earliest dated Islamic objects (other than coins) in any American museum. The inscription, stamped into the weight when the glass was semi-molten, gives the name of Yazid III, a caliph (ruler) of the Umayyad dynasty (661–750). It also states that “God commands honesty,” an appropriate sentiment for its function as a weight used to measure coins made of precious materials like gold, silver, or copper.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
Dikran Kelekian, New York and Paris, [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1914, by purchase; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
Exhibitions
1982-1984 | The Heritage of Islam. Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston; California Academy of Sciences Museum, San Francisco; Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul; Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn; Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. |
Conservation
Date | Description | Narrative |
---|---|---|
7/16/1963 | Treatment | other |
7/28/1981 | Examination | examined for condition |
Measurements
H: 1 5/8 x Diam: 2 15/16 in. (4.2 x 7.5 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters, 1914
Location in Museum
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
47.6