Islamic Art at the Metropolitan Museum

Not having to do any holiday shopping, I spent Black Saturday at the Metropolitan Museum of Arts' new permanent gallery on Islamic Art.  It is named "Islamic Art" even though the curator of the gallery describes the collection as "primarily secular". It is also exclusively about the material culture of the padshahs, the sultans, and their nobles. If you are interested in knowing how the common people lived or what they consumed, you would not find it here. Despite such problematics, it is a grand visual and artistic treat and worth a visit. To whet your appetite, below is a sample of what you will find there:

Damascus Room, Syria, 17 century 

Latticed stone window, Mughal Empire, India, 16th cent

Page from one of the largest Qurans, (each line 3 ft. long), Samarqand, early 14th cent,

Album of Calligraphies, Ottoman Period 1500

Turquoise and Black Raqqa Ware, Iran, 15th cent

Enameled Glass, Syria

Tombstone, carved marble, Iran 1352

Gallery Entrance

All photos except the "Damascus Room" are by Indira Govindan


Damascus Room from the Museum website 


Thanks for visiting.