Tughra of Suleiman the Magnificent
Calligraphy, from Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey AD 1520–1566 Between about 1350 and 1550 great swathes of the world were occupied by the superpowers of their day – from the Inca in South America to the…
The Farjam Collection of Islamic Art
The Farjam Collection is one of the most impressive privately-owned collections in the world today. Featuring Islamic and pre-Islamic art, Contemporary Middle-Eastern art and International Modern and Contemporary Art, the Collection is born…
Arabic Calligraphy and Type Design
This article presents the Diwani style of Arabic which lead to designing Thuraya, a contemporary yet faithful interpretation of the Diwani style with extensive calligraphic features. Arabic calligraphy is undoubtedly one of the…
Prisse d’Avennes – A Portrait
Prisse d’Avennes: British by blood, French by birth, Muslim by choice, scholar by avocation. Emile Prisse d’Avennes (1807–1879), a French Orientalist, author and artist, was one of the greatest pre-20th century Egyptologists. An…
From Middle East to Middle Kingdom
In contrast, the appreciation of Chinese–Islamic works has been negligible. For collectors of traditional Chinese art, these works are not Chinese enough; for Islamic-art collectors, they seem too alien to be considered truly…
Silver Speaks
Throughout the Middle East, Silver, jewellery speaks about the lives of women and girls and the talents of artisans. It provides a window into social status, religion, regional identities and changing lives in…
Art & Islam
The arts of Islam are among its greatest legacies. Yet the legitimacy of the arts is today a matter of controversy in contemporary Muslim societies. The modernist rejects the religious basis of any…
Traditional Calligraphy & Modern Art
This paper discusses the traditional art of calligraphy in the contemporary cultural context, with particular reference to recent efforts on the one hand to “modernize Islamic calligraphy” and on the other hand to…
Islamic Art Reading List
Below is a selection of recommended titles covering a range of more general reading about Islamic art. Akurgal, Ekrem (ed.), The Art and Architecture of Turkey, Oxford, 1980. ISBN. 0192114514 Allen, Terry, Five Essays on…
Meidan-i-Chah ou Place Royale, Ispahan; Ispahan, Meidan-i-Shah
The wide expanse of the Maydan was created as a polo ground by Shah Abbas soon after he moved his capital to Ispahan in the early 1600s. On the far side is the…
Darb al-Ahmar, Cairo
This masterly drawing represents a view looking north along part of the Darb al-Ahmar (now Sharia Bab al-Wazir). On the right is a corner of the Palace of Alin Aq (now almost destroyed);…
Domestic Culture of Cities in the Middle East (16th to 19th century)
This article invites the reader to enter and enjoy wealthy urban homes in Turkey, Egypt and Iran between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. This was a period of flourishing traditional culture and also of…
