Browse Items (68 total)

This folio contains part of Chapter 49, Verse 15, and the entirety of Verse 16. In the descriptions below we simply refer to it as "the 49:16 folio."

This is an Early Byzantine struck bronze coin depicting emperor Justinian I holding the cross. Like countless other rulers, he justifies his power by posing himself with a holy object. This coin dates to the sixth century, so we know that the…

This coin was produced between 498 and 518 C.E. and it is holed like the coin of Romanos IV (which came much later in the 11th century). Coins serving as amulets is not uncommon and we see this practice throughout the Middle Ages. On this coin, the…

This folio comes from another Kufic Quran. Notice the abundant red dots and black tick marks indicating vowels, and the odd diagonal slant of the text as a whole.

This folio comes from a Quran in the Eastern Kufic style. Notice the emphasis on vertical rather than horizontal elongation.

Pictured here is a page out of the famous Blue Quran, which is dispersed all around the world and which the Harvard Art Museum is lucky to have a fragment of. The gold text is also in the Kufic style.

Produced in 989 under the rule of Basil II, this struck silver coin is devoid of any depiction of the ruler. The emperor is honored in the text, but the only image is of the Virgin and Child. The population of those who could read the text would have…

Dies like this one were used to make the designs seen on Medieval coins. A metal blank would be placed between the upper and lower dies, then the upper one would be struck with a hammer. This would leave a design imprinted in the metal disc, creating…

An ingot is a general term for metal mass that has yet to be made into a finished product. These bits of metal would be melted down in order to be formed into jewelry, coins, or other objects. This particular ingot is rolled into a spiral shape,…