The Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Islamic World
Introduction by Stuart Carey Welch
4to. pp. 164. profusely illustrated in colour (2 foldouts). paperback. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, [2008].
Third Printing.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art series Vol. 11.
New.
ISBN-10: 0300087861 / ISBN-13: 9780300087864
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In The Islamic World over 140 objects and pictures are reproduced, giving a sweeping view of the many styles and mediums in which Islamic artists worked, from Spain to India, over more than ten centuries. Pages from Korans, epic poems, poetic anthologies, and albums, as well as glasswork, jewelry, and stone- and woodcarving show the rich variety of Islamic art. A room from Damascus, created in the eighteenth century, reveals the exquisite craftsmanship for which Islamic architects, woodcarvers, and ceramists are justly famous. Examples of the various calligraphic styles are shown in pages of Korans copied throughout the Islamic world. Illustrations from such famous secular works as the Houghton Shah-nameh and the album created for Shah Jahan reveal the vivid imagination and consummate skill of Islamic artists and the important part played by local traditions in forming this unique aesthetic. Islamic glass and ceramics, beautiful in themselves and critically important in the development of these mediums in the West, are illustrated by examples drawn from every corner of the Muslim world, while carpets—probably the art form that in the West is most closely associated with Islamic craftsmanship—are profusely illustrated by examples from Mamluk Egypt, Safavid Iran, Ottoman Turkey, and Mughal India. Together, the paintings and objects reproduced here offer a richly rewarding aesthetic adventure and a revealing picture of the variety and brilliance of over ten centuries of artistic achievement.