Connecting with Islamic Art at the Metropolitan

Islamic art, architecture, and cultural traditions are closely related to other artistic movements around the world. In conjunction with the opening of the new Galleries for the Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia, which house works from the Met's Department of Islamic Art, I'd like to take this opportunity to highlight related objects from the Museum's other curatorial departments.

American Wing

Tile, ca. 1882–84
Made by J. and J. G. Low Art Tile Works (American, 1877–1907)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Purchase, Bequest of Adeline R. Brown, by exchange, 1977
(1977.373.2)

This interlaced, star-like composition is a typical pattern
of Islamic geometric ornament.

Henry Siddons Mowbray (American, 1858–1928)
Harem Scene, ca. 1884–1900
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Gift of Edward D. Adams, 1926 (26.158.3)

This American Orientalist painting depicts a Harem scene—
part of the private domestic sphere—showing three
women set in an architectural theme decorated with furniture
and objects inspired from the Islamic world.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

Plate, ca. 5th century A.D.
Iran; Sasanian
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1994 (1994.402)

This silver plate depicts a hunting scene from the tale of the
Sasanian king Bahram Gur and his musician Azada, whose
narrative and iconography are strongly represented within
the eastern Islamic world.

Arms and Armor

Helmet, late 15th century
Spanish
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
From the Lord Astor of Hever Collection Purchase,
The Vincent Astor Foundation Gift, 1983 (1983.413)

This helmet is inlaid with enamels from Nasrid-Muslim Spain.

Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas

Woman's Headdress, 19th–early 20th century
Indonesia, Sumatra
Minangkabau people
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Gift of Fred and Rita Richman, 1988 (1988.143.120)

This headdress, and the bracelet below, were created by
the Minangkabau, an Islamic people from Sumatra.

Woman's Bracelet, 19th–early 20th century
Indonesia, Sumatra
Minangkabau people
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Gift of Fred and Rita Richman, 1988 (1988.143.121)

Asian Art

Ewer, late 7th–first half of the 8th century
China; Tang dynasty (618–907)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Gift of Stanley Herzman, in memory of Gladys Herzman, 1997 (1997.1.2)

This Chinese ewer demonstrates the sancai or three-glaze
technique, which inspired early Islamic splashed ware. While
the three-color glaze may have inspired Islamic potters, the
ewer's shape was actually inspired by earlier Western or West
Asian (Sassanian, Byzantine, Roman?) forms.

The Costume Institute

Mariano Fortuny (Spanish, 1871–1949)
Robe, early 20th century
House of Fortuny (Italian, founded 1906)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Gift of Mrs. Francis Coleman and Mrs. Charles H. Erhart Jr., 1975
(1975.383.3)

The alternating tulips and pine cones on this early
twentieth-century robe are typical motifs of Ottoman art.

Drawings and Prints

Jacopo Ligozzi (Italian, 1547–1627)
A Janissary "of War" with a Lion, 1547–1627
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1997 (1997.21)

Janissaries were infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's
household troops and bodyguards.

Egyptian Art

Sphinx of Hatshepsut, ca. 1473–1458 B.C.
New Kingdom, Dynasty 18
Joint reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III
Egypt
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Rogers Fund, 1931 (31.3.166)

The sphinx is a popular theme in medieval Islamic art.

European Paintings

Johannes Vermeer (Dutch, 1632–1675)
A Maid Asleep, 1656–57
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913 (14.40.611)

Vermeer's sleeping maid sits at a table that is covered with
a Turkish carpet.

European Sculpture and Decorative Art

Ewer and Basin (Lavabo Set), ca. 1680–85
Moldovan, Probably made at Chisinau Court Workshop
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Wrightsman Fund, 2005 (2005.62.1, .2a, b)

This ewer and basin (lavabo set) comes from the Ottoman
Balkans. It was once owned by Prince Dimitri Cantemir of
Moldavia, "tribute" hostage at the Istanbul court for eleven
years, where he was educated and called one of the most
important early "Western" scholars of the Ottoman culture.

Greek and Roman Art

Glass flask in the form of a fish
Roman, 3rd century A.D.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Bequest of Mary Anna Palmer Draper, 1914 (15.43.168)

Zoomorphic glass flasks continued to be produced in early
Islamic Egypt and Syria.

The Robert Lehman Collection

Pilgrim flask, ca. 1500–1525
Italian (Venetian)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975 (1975.1.1167)

This pilgrim flask's flattened, ovoid body typifies a form that
was very common in medieval Islamic Syria, from which it
may have been inspired.

Medieval Art and The Cloisters

Master working for Abd al-Rahman III (r. 912–961)
Pyx, ca. 950–75
Spanish, Made in Córdoba
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
The Cloisters Collection, 1970 (1970.324.5)

This Spanish pyx was made in Córdoba during the rule of the
Umayyad caliph Abd al-Rahman III (r. 912–961).

Nineteenth-Century, Modern, and Contemporary Art

Henri Matisse (French, 1869–1954)
Odalisque with Gray Trousers, 1927
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
The Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Collection,
Gift of Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, 1997
Bequest of Walter H. Annenberg, 2002 (1997.400)
© 2011 Succession H. Matisse /
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

This painting is part of a series devoted to the odalisque, here
shown lying in an interior scene decorated with objects from
the Islamic world.

Musical Instruments

Kamanche, ca. 1869
Iran (Persia)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889 (89.4.325)

The kamānche is a Persian bowed string instrument that is
widely used in the classical music of the eastern Islamic world.
Its appearance in the tenth century preceded European versions
by one hundred years.

Photographs

Charles Clifford (Welsh, 1819–1863)
[The Lion Court at the Alhambra], 1862
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
Gift of C. David and Mary Robinson, 2007 (2007.250.2)

This photograph shows one of the masterpieces of Islamic
architecture, the famous Alhambra in Spain.