Pomegranate carved in the round is an ivory bead shaped like a pomegranate. It is dated to the 8th century B.C. and is attributed to the

Assyrian Empire Assyrian may refer to: * Assyrian people, an indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia. * Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire. ** Early Assyrian Period ** Old Assyrian Period ** Middle Assyrian Empire ** Neo-Assyrian Empire ** Post-im ...

. The ivory bead is currently held by the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

in its collection.

Description

The ivory bead is shaped like a

pomegranate The pomegranate (''Punica granatum'') is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punica, Punicoideae, that grows between tall. Rich in symbolic and mythological associations in many cultures, it is thought to have o ...

, an object commonly depicted in Assyrian art. The reddish color of the bead was not intended; rather, the object is stained as a result of being buried in the ruins of

Kalhu Nimrud (; ) is an ancient Assyrian city (original Assyrian name Kalḫu, biblical name Calah) located in Iraq, south of the city of Mosul, and south of the village of Selamiyah (), in the Nineveh Plains in Upper Mesopotamia. It was a major ...

. A product of the trade routes of the

Bronze Age Civilizations Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloids ( ...

, the ivory used in the making of the piece was likely imported from Egypt.

References

Jewelry in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Assyrian art and architecture Ivory works of art {{Met-stub