arrow_forward_ios
arrow_forward_ios

Inscribed Pound Weight

Syrian (Artist)

al-Walid ibn Abdul-Rahman (Syrian) (Patron)

126 AH/AD 743 (Early Medieval)

glass
(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

[Inscription] Stamped into surface: In the name of God. He [God] commands honesty. The servant of God Yazid, Commander of the Faithful. Executed by al-Walid ibn Abd al-Rahman in the year 126. Full ratl.

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

Share

Geographies

(Place of Origin) Syria, Damascus (Place of Discovery)

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

Centre Street: Third Floor: Medieval Mediterranean

Accession Number

In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.

47.6

Do you have additional information?

Notify the curator

Inscribed Pound Weight

Inscription

Provenance

**Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.**

Exhibitions

Conservation

Geographies

Measurements

Credit Line

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.

Do you have additional information?

Hours

Location

Phone

Inscribed Pound Weight

Inscription

Provenance Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Exhibitions

Conservation

Geographies

Measurements

Credit Line

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.

Do you have additional information?

Provenance

**Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.**

Accession Number

In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.