Call for Papers
Pre-Modern “Pop Cultures”? Images and Objects Around the Mediterranean (c. 350–1918), Call for papers, Eikón Imago 2022, DEADLINE 30/6/2021
Eikón Imago
“We may not be able to define it, but we know it when we see it”: this is the slightly ironic definition Holt Parker gives us for “popular culture” (Parker 2011: 147). But who is able to define…
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The CARMEN Visual and Material Cultures
ARC Humanities Press
This series provides a platform for interdisciplinary medieval scholarship centred on visual and material cultures, through which it seeks to gain new perspectives and bring greater depth to existing historical…
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HIAA Summer Newsletter--Please share recent publications, exhibitions, new positions, and honors by May 31, 2021
HIAA
Following the successful launch of our newsletter (available in the Member News page of the website), the HIAA board is now gathering information to compile in the summer edition (to be…
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HIAA Majlis at CAA 2022--Proposals due May 31, 2021
Chicago
The HIAA Majlis, held periodically in conjunction with the conference of the College Art Association (CAA), offers an opportunity for junior scholars in Islamic art to learn about their colleagues'…
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HIAA Summer Newsletter--Please share recent publications, exhibitions, new positions, and honors by May 31, 2021
HIAA
Following the successful launch of our newsletter (available in the Member News page of the website), the HIAA board is now gathering information to compile in the summer edition (to be…
ViewBook
The Queen of Sheba's Gift: A History of the True Balsam of Matarea, by Marcus Milwright
The death of the last balsam tree in the plantation of Matarea in 1615 marks the end of practice of specialised cultivation that can be traced back two millennia. This interdisciplinary book uses written sources, visual data, and archaeological material to reconstruct the fascinating history of the balsam tree from Jericho and En-Gedi to Egypt, while also establishing links with resin-producing trees from the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa. Chapters address the symbolic associations of balsam and the site of Matarea, the distribution of products from the tree through trade and diplomacy, and the applications of these products in medicine, ritual, and the domestic environment. These chapters allow for an exploration of the complex socio-cultural factors that contributed to the sense of value accorded to rare commodities.
For more information, see.
Book
The Mobility of People and Things in the Early Modern Mediterranean The Art of Travel, Edited by Elisabeth A. Fraser
For centuries artists, diplomats, and merchants served as cultural intermediaries in the Mediterranean. Stationed in port cities and other entrepôts of the Mediterranean, these go-betweens forged intercultural connections even as they negotiated and sometimes promoted cultural misunderstandings. They also moved objects of all kinds across time and space. This volume considers how the mobility of art and material culture is intertwined with greater Mediterranean networks from 1580 to 1880. Contributors see the movement of people and objects as transformational, emphasizing the trajectory of objects over single points of origin, multiplicity over unity, and mutability over stasis.
Contents:
Introduction: The Mobility of People and Things in the Early Modern Mediterranean: The Art of Travel - Elisabeth A. Fraser; 1 "From Scorching Spain and Freezing Muscovy": English Embroidery and Early Modern Mediterranean Trade - Sylvia Houghteling; 2 A Tale of Two Guns: Maritime Weaponry between France and Algiers - Meredith Martin and Gillian Weiss; 3 Furnishing the Taste for Coffee in Early Modern France - Julia Landweber; 4 Substitutes and Souvenirs: Reliving Polish Victory in "Turkish" Tents - Ashley Dimmig; 5 The Ottoman Costume Album as Mobile Object and Agent of Contact - Elisabeth Fraser; 6 Entangled Styles: Mediterranean Migration and Dress in Pre-Modern Algiers - Leyla Belkaïd-Neri; 7 The Art of Wandering: Alexander Svoboda and Photography in the Nineteenth-Century Mediterranean - Michèle Hannoosh
Buy bookOnline Course
Introduction to Arabo-Islamic Manuscript Culture--An Online Intensive Course organized by Qatar National Library and the Chair of Islamic History and Culture, University of Tübingen, Germany, DEADLINE May 15
Qatar National Library (Online)
Introduction to Arabo-Islamic Manuscript Culture is an Intensive Course organized by Qatar National Library and the Chair of Islamic History and Culture, University of Tübingen, Germany At the heart…
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In Memoriam - Members of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture
Yavuz Sezer, Khaled Asfour, Jamal Abed, and Ghada Qaddoumi
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Water in Sacred Architecture-deadline for abstracts May 10, 2021
Please send an abstract of 300 words by May 10, 2021 to Anat Geva at a-geva@tamu.edu
Anat Geva, Professor Emeritus in architecture, Texas A&M University will publish an edited volume on water and sacred architecture. The book intends to explore this relationship…
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Special Issue: Rupture and Response, Abstracts due April 5, 2021
International Journal of Islamic Architecture (IJIA)
Thematic volume planned for July 2023 Abstract submission deadline: April 5, 2021 This special issue of the International Journal of Islamic Architecture addresses urban and architectural…
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Fighting, Hunting, Impressing – Arms and Armour from the Islamic World 1500–1850, by Kjeld von Folsach, Curator Joachim Meyer and Curator Peter Wandel
The David Collection is happy to announce the publication of Fighting, Hunting, Impressing – Arms and Armour from the Islamic World 1500–1850, the book behind the exhibition of the same name, that will open at The David Collection in spring 2021 – Danish corona restrictions allowing – and run until autumn 2021 (check the museum’s website). The book and exhibition focus on the characteristics of Islamic arms and armour from 1500 to 1850, describing the role they played on the battlefield, in connection with hunting and as ornaments.
The vast majority of arms and armour was created for men, and the finest and most lavish specimens were not intended for either fighting or hunting but may be considered a kind of male jewellery and status symbols. Colossal amounts of technical skill and artistic creativity was put into the creation of these objects of beauty, all while retaining their utility as fully functional weapons.
The book’s introductory article examines the role played by fighting and arms and armour in the Koran, and how these relate to the rise and early spread of Islam.
Another article is about furusiyya, the chivalric code of the Islamic world. The concept covers both the practical education and moral edification that noble Islamic warriors of the time were expected to receive.
Arabic script plays a major role in the decoration of Islamic art in general. This also applies to arms and armour, and while many inscriptions come from the Koran, others may also reveal who made the weapons, when they were made and who owned them.
The history of collecting Islamic arms and armour, in the Islamic world and in the West, has many fascinating aspects that are also explored in this publication.
Finally, three articles provide broad insights into the three main contexts in which Islamic arms and armour were used: combat and war, princely hunts, and various ceremonies such as audiences and exchanges of gifts.
The large catalogue section presents and analyses a range of weapons, armour, helmets and shields. Originally created in an area extending from North Africa to India, these pieces have found their way into Danish collections from the seventeenth century onwards. Also included are a number of miniature paintings illustrating the various contexts in which arms and armour were used. An appendix contains translations of the objects’ numerous Arabic, Persian and Turkish inscriptions.
Many of the 151 items featured in the catalogue belong to the David Collection, but other museums and a private collector have also contributed extensively. All the works on display are beautifully reproduced in the book, supplemented by a large number of full-colour illustrations in the introductory articles.
About the authors
The book’s authors and editors are Director Kjeld von Folsach, Curator Joachim Meyer and Curator Peter Wandel – all three from the David Collection. The book also contains contributions by Professor Thomas Hoffmann, University of Copenhagen, and Will Kwiatkowski, an international scholar specialised in Islamic inscriptions.
English edition: ISBN 978-87-92596-10-9
Danish edition: ISBN 978-87-92596-28-4
Size: 296 pages, richly illustrated
Publisher: The David Collection in commission with Strandberg Publishing
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Please submit resources to the HIAA webmaster including the resource name and type, and several sentences about its nature, and a link to further information.