NEW YORK, NY.- Although most buildings in the Near East from late antiquity and the early Islamic period (between around 500 and 1000) do not survive fully intact, the fragments that do remain help shed light on the ingenious ways that artisans transformed architectural surfaces to create sumptuous interiors and monumental façades. Three aesthetic principles that were especially important to the design of architectural ornament in the Byzantine, Sasanian, and early Islamic traditions are highlighted in the exhibition Pattern, Color, Light: Architectural Ornament in the Near East (500–1000), opening July 20 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The display features some 30 items from Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, all from the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum.

A number of items from important archaeological sites are included. Items believed to be from Byzantine-period monasteries at Bawit and Saqqara (both in present-day Egypt) were purchased around 1910; materials from Abbasid Samarra (present-day Iraq) were excavated by Ernst Herzfeld and purchased by the Museum in the 1920s; artifacts from Sasanian Ctesiphon (present-day Iraq) were excavated by a joint expedition of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and the Metropolitan Museum in 1931–32; and artifacts from an early Byzantine necropolis in the Kharga Oasis (present-day Egypt) were excavated as part of a survey undertaken by the Metropolitan Museum that began in 1908 and continued until the 1930s.

The Near East witnessed significant political and social changes in the five centuries between 500 and 1000. Most importantly, the rise of Islam as a new world religion and the collapse of the Sasanian Empire in the seventh century led to a reorientation of the political map, with the Muslim Empire replacing Sasanian Iran as Byzantium’s major political rival.

A reconstruction showing the historical polychrome decoration of a carved wooden panel—based on analysis of remaining bits of pigment—was created for the exhibition by staff in the Museum’s departments of Objects Conservation, Scientific Research, and the Photograph Studio.

The research will be discussed on October 15 in a gallery conversation for general audiences. Speakers will include Matthew Saba, Andrew W. Mellon Post-Doctoral Curatorial Fellow, Department of Islamic Art; Mechtild Baumeister, Conservator, Department of Objects Conservation; and Christopher Heins, Associate Imaging Specialist, The Photograph Studio.

The exhibition is organized by Matthew Saba with Sheila Canby, the Patti Cadby Birch Curator in Charge, Department of Islamic Art.