Geometric Patterns Pen and Pencil Set from The Met Museum

Our elegant pen and mechanical pencil set is inspired by Islamic architectural elements. The pen features geometric details from a pair of minbar doors from 14th-century Egypt, while the pencil takes its design from a 16th-century Indian jali, or pierced window screen. Both pieces would have featured heavily in daily life in their respective lands. The Egyptian doors, which are thought to come from the mosque of Saif al-Din Qawsun in Cairo, would have been at the base of stairs leading to a podium at the top of the minbar, or pulpit, where the imam (prayer leader) would deliver sermons. The jali is one of a pair belonging to an outside wall, where its intricate motif would be cast on the ground with the shifting daylight. The door and screen lend both pattern and history to our pen and pencil set, and are certain to inspire creativity in modern daily life.