The opening marks the 10th anniversary of the MFAH’s decade-long collaboration with the al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait, one of the most comprehensive collections of Islamic art in the world. On display are objects from the al-Sabah Collection, works from the MFAH’s holdings in Islamic art, and several Iranian masterworks from the 7th through 19th centuries now on long-term loan from the Afshar Collection, including paintings, ceramics, metalware, fabrics, and carpets.
Gallery 1 provides an introduction to recurring, centuries-old themes and visual motifs found in Islamic art, while Galleries 2 and 3 feature paintings from the pages of the Persian national epic, the Shahnama (Book of Kings), luster ceramics, and silk carpets from the pinnacle of Safavid carpet production.
Gallery 4 celebrates the sacred and secular arts of the book, with illuminated Qur’an manuscripts, illustrated histories and single-page paintings, as well as the calligrapher’s tools of the trade, including lacquer pen cases, inlaid scribes’ boxes, and ceramic sand shakers.
Gallery 5 explores the journey of Persian ceramics across trade routes to East Asia and China, and Gallery 6 is all about textiles and carpets — “woven treasures” which were integral to daily life and sacred and secular ceremonies.
“The new galleries are a culmination of the strong partnership between the museum, our dynamic Houston communities, and an extraordinary historical collection,” says Aimée Froom, curator of the arts of the Islamic worlds in a release. “Encompassing diverse cultures, ethnicities, languages, and regional traditions, this new presentation will convey the extraordinarily vibrant contributions and legacies of Islamic civilizations.”
Qur'an manuscript in Maghribi script
Shakhrisyabz Suzani
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