Wall decoration with geometric and vegetal design ca. 6th century A.D. Sasanian Stucco reliefs were commonly used to decorate the iwans and reception halls of elite Sasanian houses. Many examples were found in excavated houses in the Ctesiphon area including this fragment from Umm ez-Zatir consisting of a vine with half palmettes between borders of a meander pattern. The use of molds to make stuccos allowed for the creation of large scale repetitive patterns such as geometric and vegetal motifs. The city of Ctesiphon was located on the east bank of the Tigris River, 20 miles (32 km) south of modern Baghdad in Iraq. It flourished for more than 800 years as the capital of the Parthians and the Sasanians, the last two dynasties to rule the ancient Near East before the Islamic conquest in the seventh century. Systematic excavations in the Ctesiphon area were undertaken by an expedition in 1928-29 sponsored by the German Oriental Society (Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft). The Metropolitan Mus