Stone & Stucco Stone and stucco have a long history in the art and cultures that became the Islamic world. Even as far back as the Bronze Age, stone was used to create almost reverential objects of sacred animals, demons and gods/goddesses.Stone and stucco remained the chosen media for an important and characteristic Islamic architectural element: carved and pierced window screening panels which allowed ventilation while providing privacy and shade to the interior. From early Islamic times these were executed in both materials and were employed in religious and secular buildings. Stucco techniques were highly developed and widely used to embellish interiors as well as these window grilles.Islamic masons inherited…
COLLECTION
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Textiles & Rugs
Textiles & Rugs Textiles are one of the most diverse types of objects from the Islamic lands. They include some of the most valuable and refined luxury goods produced, highly prized by their owners at the time and among the most prestigious diplomatic gifts and rewards for service at court. Egypt, Iran, Turkey and India produced some of the most spectacular woven textiles for garments and cushions, using silk and metal threads to luxurious effect in figural as well as calligraphic, floral and other designs.In the early mediaeval period, Egypt was famous for ‘tiraz’ textiles, a series of types which incorporated inscription bands. Whether integrally woven, embroidered or written with…
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Numismatics
Numismatics With more than 12,000 coins in the collection, The al-Sabah Collections numismatic holdings are extensive. Coins in the collection were minted in virtually every corner of the geography of the Islamic world. Equally notable, they were minted over a period of some 6,000 years – from the Bronze Age through the 19th century CE. All minted coins are invaluable records, rich with historical, social, artistic and, of course, economic information. One could argue the true value of a coin is often found in the stories it tells. Using the coins from the Islamic collection, one can trace the influence of pre-Islamic cultures, the history of dynasties, the geographic spread…
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Metalwork
Metalwork The al-Sabah Collection contains almost two thousand items of metalwork ranging from elaborately worked vessels inlaid with precious metals to simply cast bronze finials in the form of animals. Islamic metalworkers, whether in Cairo or Herat, often fashioned relatively simple forms covered the surface in dazzling engraved or precious metal-inlaid patterns of arabesque interlace, processions of animals or long benedictory inscriptions. Objects with calligraphy as decoration occur more frequently in metalwork than any other medium used for objects of utility. These range from benedictory inscriptions to verses from the Qur’an to lines of poetry, and sometimes include the signatures of the artists. The ancient Near East has a long…
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Art Of the Book
Art Of the Book The al-Sabah Collection is rich in manuscripts of the Qur’an. These range from a double page folio from one of the earliest known manuscripts, copied in the second century of Islam in a distinctive vertical script known as Hijazi, to a superbly decorated, large format manuscript signed by a famous calligrapher from Shiraz, while working at the royal court of Golconda in the Deccan in the 16th century CE. An enormous number of Islamic manuscripts survive though relatively few are illustrated, particularly when it comes to works of Arabic literature. By contrast, a large number of illustrated manuscripts of Persian poetry were produced, some of the…
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Jewellery
Jewellery The al-Sabah Collection possess an unparalleled assemblage of pre-Islamic and Islamic jewellery and jewelled objects. These objects represent not only the almost eternal quest for beauty, but the aesthetic and technical skills of generations of artisans.In addition to what is certainly the largest and most representative collection of mediaeval Islamic jewellery in the world, the collection houses an incomparable representation of the jewellery and jewelled objects of the Mughal and Deccan territories of India of the 16th to 18th centuries. The latter has been extensively shown worldwide in the Treasury of the World: Jewelled Arts of India in the Age of the Mughals exhibition, its first venue being the…
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Ivory & Wood
Ivory & Wood Objects of ivory and wood comprise decorative architectural items such as beams and doors, and smaller items such as boxes, jewellery and gaming pieces. Relatively few examples have survived due to the perishability of the materials. That said, an ivory standing female figure circa 2450 – 2350 BCE from Syria or Mesopotamia is witness to the skills of pre-Islamic artisans. The figure originally included inlays for eyes, eyebrows and the pubic area in addition to holes that indicate the addition of a hair piece.Ivory was used throughout Islamic times, much of it initially following the Byzantine tradition. Highly prized in Europe in the mediaeval period, many items…
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Glass
Glass Glass objects in the collection date back almost 4,500 years and include objects from virtually every period since. The depth of the glass objects in The al-Sabah Collection allows both scholars and visitors to study, understand and appreciate the evolution of glass techniques from the Bronze Age to 19th century CE.A stellar example of early glass work can be found on an Achaemenid colourless glass bowl from the late 6th to 5th centuries BCE. The relief-cut rosette, leaf and lotus bud design provides a hint of work to come, presenting a motif that would appear in glass objects even millennia away. The glassmakers of the Islamic Mediterranean and Iranian…
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Ceramics
Ceramics Ceramics is one of the oldest industries, dating back to the Paleolithic era, more than 30,000 years ago. While The al-Sabah Collection is rich in ceramics, the primary focus of the collecting effort concentrated on covering the range of different techniques used by potters from the earliest Islamic period through to the 19th century. The examples below include an early earthenware bowl painted in lustre which displays a metallic sheen produced by metal oxides when the piece was fired a second time in a kiln low in oxygen. This technique of decoration was first employed on ceramics in Iraq in the 9th century CE, subsequently to spread far and…