New Directions for the Arts of Islam

The Department of Islamic Art was established at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1963. Its collection of 15,000 objects—from the Middle East, north Africa, south Asia, and other regions—connects far-flung traditions and visual cultures across a large geography from the rise of Islam in the seventh century to the present. Diverse cultures, religions, and peoples have always coexisted in Islamic lands, and the ancient heritage, multiethnic population, and linguistic makeup of each region have been key to their identities. From Islam’s initial emergence in Arabia in late antiquity to its early expansion in the Middle East, Mediterranean, and Asia, and further spread across Africa and the Malay Archipelago, “Islamic culture” has become as varied as the worlds it has reached.

Today, we think of the arts of Islam as expressions of diversity whose visual styles have been widely shared. In the years since 9/11, this representation has been a valuable resource in countering trends toward essentialism and reductivism. As the field has grown into contexts where Islam is not the dominant tradition, art historians have grappled with questions of definition. They have increasingly used the term “Islamic art” to encompass all art forms, religious and secular, produced in the Muslim world. This includes works created by Muslims for patrons of any faith—such as Christians, Jews, and Hindus—as well as those created by people of any faith living in Muslim or non-Muslim lands under “Islamicate” influence. It also extends to modern and contemporary artists concerned with themes of Muslim identity, politics, and culture anywhere.

In 2011, the collection of the Department of Islamic Art was reinstalled. The circular layout of the wing provides multiple entrances and paths through the expanded suite of galleries, offering the opportunity to explore the art in a variety of ways, including chronologically or by region. To mark the tenth anniversary of the reinstallation, the department has updated these spaces with new objects, installations, and didactic materials. Many of these projects reflect the department’s deepening engagement with the arts and aesthetic languages of southeast Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, western China, and other underrepresented areas, in order to bring forward the story of Islamic art to modern times.

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The updated introductory text panel in Gallery 450 is now accompanied by a panel for the display of modern and contemporary calligraphy, prints, photography, and other two-dimensional media, acting as a portal from the present moment into the historical collections. There are several new additions to the space, including an unbound Qur’an manuscript from West Africa executed in the “barnawi” script, folios from a Chinese Qur’an, and ceremonial pilgrimage hats from South Sulawesi, indicating the fine artistic traditions of the Malay Archipelago. A recent gift of an important Qajar-period mirror case painted by Muhammad Isma’il Isfahani, depicting a meeting between the youthful Iranian crown prince, Nasir al-Din Mirza, and Tsar Nicolas I of Russia in Yerevan in 1838, is also on view

A new partnership with Qatar names the gallery of Umayyad and ‘Abbasid art and celebrates new installations in that space. This gallery represents a foundational period in the history of Islam and incorporates works from early Umayyad centers of production and capitals of the succeeding ‘Abbasid age. A new group of ceramics, along with deeply carved wood panels in the signature “beveled style” seen in the architectural decoration of Samarra, have been integrated in a case that originally housed three large jars of the eighth and ninth centuries. The jars are now relocated to the right of the main gallery entrance so that they can be better viewed in the round. In an adjacent area for archaeological materials, a section of a monumental epigraphic frieze from a medieval mosque in Nishapur has been added to panels that were previously in storage. The inscription is part of a long titulature—part of which is in the National Museum of Iran—possibly referring to the Seljuq ruler Malik Shah (r. 1073–92).

A curatorial collaboration with the Rockefeller Wing’s African Origin of Civilization initiative presents art from a wider African context within the Moroccan Court. An arch-shaped horseshoe window from Timbuktu and a Nigerian Hausa robe with embroidery demonstrate the stylistic idioms which extended from West Africa back into the medieval Andalusian age. This evocative space created by craftsmen from Fez has also been the site of poetry readings and musical performances.

The reinstallation of figural tile panels from a pavilion in seventeenth-century Isfahan in the gallery for Safavid Iran now includes all three of The Met’s panels together in an improved display, since previously only two were shown. The new arrangement opens a spectacular vista through the adjoining Mughal gallery, offering a sweeping view from Tabriz to Rajasthan, recreating a world of artistic exchange and connection that once freely existed across those worlds. A newly installed marble jali screen attributed to seventeenth-century Ajmer and placed outside the second entrance through the gallery for later Indian court arts shows the merging of regional traditions.

Over these past ten years, an active exhibition program, publications, excavations, and educational offerings have contributed to the deeper exploration of diverse subjects. The Turkish Centennial Fund has supported lectures, educational programs, and acquisitions, such as a brilliantly colored ‘cintamani’ Iznik border tile. Heritage protection partnerships with institutions in Iraq and Syria, with colleagues in the field and across Met departments, have resulted in special publications of the collections of the Slemani, Iraq, and Mosul Museums.

Among notable acquisitions is the collection of Indian court paintings of British painter Sir Howard Hodgkin, a joint purchase and loan arrangement with the Department of Asian Art and the Hodgkin Trust. This assembly of 122 works created between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries represents several schools of painting, including important works from the Mughal and Deccani courts such as a folio from the late sixteenth-century Hamzanama manuscript, and a portrait of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb as a prince among others.

Our departmental webpage remains a hub for articles, gallery highlights, lectures and events, and special digital projects. Throughout COVID-19, we kept our community together with a virtual lecture series, Islamic Art in Solitude, which is now in its sixth season and has become a platform for scholars and international speakers to share new and emerging research in the field; it includes virtual visits to artists’ studios, private collections, and exhibitions. Among the new digital initiatives is an innovative approach to reading the calligraphic content on objects. This pilot project, Speaking Objects from the World of Islam, uses videography and augmented reality to guide the reader through each letter and phrase of an inscription while providing simultaneous recitation and translation.

The Friends of Islamic Art continue to support the department’s activities and welcome new members, and engaging with the living artistic traditions remains a priority. In partnership with designer Madeline Weinrib and The Met Store, we have worked to launch The Heirloom Project in celebration of the galleries’ tenth anniversary. The products are sourced from artisans working in the regions; while the initial scope included a group of Moroccan women embroiderers, it has grown to include craftsmen from Afghanistan, Turkey, India, and elsewhere.