Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

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Islamic coin

  • Description

    In the year AH 77 (AD 696), the Umayyad caliph ‘Abd al-Malik (ruled AD 685-705) was responsible for one of the most significant reforms in the early history of Islam. The figurative motifs that had decorated Islamic coins until that moment were entirely replaced by epigraphic decoration, giving Islamic coinage a very distinctive appearance. Inscriptions on this dinar (gold coin), include Qur’anic passages that proclaim the belief in one God and in Muhammad as His prophet. While a wide range of variations continued to occur in time and place, epigraphic coins remained canonical across the Islamic world.

  • Details

    Associated place
    AsiaSyria Damascus (mint)
    Date
    AD 700 - 701 (AH 81)
    Associated people
    Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (ruled AD 685 - 705) (ruler)
    Material and technique
    gold
    Dimensions
    1.9 mm (diameter)
    4.24 g (weight)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Presented by A. C. Kay, 1912.
    Accession no.
    HCR7446

Location

    • First floor | Room 31 | Islamic Middle East

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

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