Provenance Information

Hagop Kevorkian, New York (before d. 1962); Sotheby's, New York, November 1975, to Jenkins-Madina; Marilyn Jenkins-Madina, New York (1975–2017; gifted to MMA)

Exhibition Information

This work has been on loan to and on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in its Islamic Gallery 454 since 2013.

Publication Information

This work is unpublished.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Informed judgement that works were outside of the country of modern discovery before 1970

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

This work has confirmed provenance to 1975 when it was acquired by Marilyn Jenkins-Madina. This work was reportedly in the collection of Hagop Kevorkian by 1962, but the Metropolitan Museum has been unable to independently confirm that provenance. An oval label that says “Kevorkian Collection” is sitting loose in the work of art. This work has been on loan to and on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art since 2013. This work will be the only glass box from Medieval Egypt in the Metropolitan Museum collection of Islamic Art. It is a rare example of the use of glass for such a container which would have held a precious substance such as musk, ambergris or some other aromatic material. Its 13th century date indicates the continuing production of glass at the end of the Fatimid Dynasty and beginning of the Ayyubid Dynasty in Egypt, one of the main glass-making centers of the Islamic world.