Metalwork and Material Culture in the Islamic World

Islamic art can justifiably be seen as the prestigious pursuit of an elitist clique of art historians. James Allan to whom this volume is dedicated, is the pater familias of the Oxford ‘family’ nestled between the Oriental Institute and the Ashmolean Museum. Most of the contributors were mentored by Allan’s erudite and gentle guidance. The editors are curators in their own right at the British and Victoria and Albert Museums, respectively. The tome’s undisputed calibre of scholarship is reflected in the breadth of coverage in Islamic artistic and architectural heritage: although metalwork takes pride of place, lusterware, marble, architecture and calligraphy spanning the eastern regions of Iran, Iraq, India, Egypt and Syria as well as the western lands of North Africa and Sicily are all represented. Divided into eight parts, it includes a general bibliography at the end including a separate one of Allan’s publications and a general index. Slightly perplexingly, some of the sections are thematic (metalwork, lusterware), others have a regional emphasis (Iran and India, the Islamic West) and others combine the two (Metalwork from the Iranian World, Egypt and Syria: Artefact and Text). The last section is dedicated to painting and contemporary art. Black and white illustrations accompany individual articles and a selection of colour plates is inserted in the middle of the volume. As with many academic publications, the quality of the black and white images is at best considerably inferior, at worst inadequate to illustrate the decorative details of individual vessels. This begs the question of choice of publisher for such an explicitly visual text and also its bulk could have been reduced by a larger format.