Metropolitan Museum Essay

1021 Words5 Pages
Mark Lauwa
10/14/2013
Museum Essay When I first entered the Metropolitan of art museum, I didn’t know what to expect. But as I entered the building, I saw sections and sections of all kinds of art from all over the world. The first section of the museum I decided to go see was the Islamic art galleries located on the 2nd floor. The galleries are mainly composed of treasures of all shapes and sizes, ranging from bronze made ornaments to ceramic pottery with intricate details etched into them. One common element I found within the displays was how intricate and precise the little details and drawings on most of them were. For example, I saw this extremely small pendant of a human body made out of ceramic and was glazed on top with green. Another example of a highly intricate design would be the huge carpets on display in the Arabian art section. One of the carpets I saw (and the biggest one I’ve ever seen) was dyed red with geometrical patterns outlining the carpet. In the middle, it had a repetitive pattern of floral shapes going in an outward spiral. Another common element I found was that there was gold engraved on around half of the displays. I saw a lot of deities and divine beings crafted in pure gold, and sarcophaguses lined with gold strips as well.
One display I really liked was a ceremonial sword, which was made during the Ottoman period by Ahmed Tekelu. Called the ‘yatagan’ in Turkish, the hilt of the sword features a gold dragon and phoenix in combat with rubies for their eyes, which I found extremely appealing. The reason why I found this appealing to me was because the dragon and phoenix are symbols of fortitude and growth, and if the sultan were to bestow it upon someone, it would be a huge honor for them. The pommel of the sword has a pearl engraved on both sides of the sword, and along with the gold lines overlaid the hilt, it makes the sword look

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