The Arts of Islam

The book under review is a unique presentation of 650 colour illustrations (including nearly 500 masterpieces selected from 20,000 works in the privately owned Khalili collection). It is claimed by the publisher that ‘the treasures presented here include rare Qur’ans and illustrated manuscripts, exquisite glass, ceramics and jewelry, magnificent textiles, carpets and paintings from the dawn of Islam until recent times. Created for sultans, princes and merchants between the 7th and the 20th centuries, these precious objects reveal the extensive contact between the Islamic empires and their conquered lands from Spain to Morocco, across North Africa and Egypt, the Middle Eastern nations of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Palestine, and stretching as far east as Mongolia, India and China’.

This volume provides not only the images of the artifacts but also an appropriate description of each item with its probable place of origin and the approximate date or century of its production. The whole collection is arranged thus: a series of introductions (pp.13-23; 26-29; 64-65; 136-38 ; 208-11); Adaptation and Renewal: the Transition Period (661-750AD) (pp.25-62); The Splendour of Baghdad: Medieval Period (750-1258) (pp.63-134); Phoenix Rising: Ilkhanid (1256-1353), Mamluk (1260-1517) and Timurid (1378-1506) periods (pp.135-206); The Age of Empires: Ottoman (1290-1922), Safavid (1506-1722), Mughal (1526- 1858) and Qajar (1779-1925) periods (pp.207-389).