Islamic art at The British Museum

Islamic art. Room 34. The British Museum. London.

This gallery displays aspects of the art of Islam, from the 7^th  century AD to the present day, and from Spain to India.

The impact of Islam on European culture has been considerable: in science, maths and navigation, and in technologies as such as ceramics.

Earthenware flat basin (brasero), painted in cobalt blue and luster over a white glaze

Valencia, Spain, about 1400-1450

The design is a ship with women’s faces, and around the rim a pattern of running loops and knots. Designs such as these belong to a group that is strongly Moorish in styl and relate to earlier pieces produced in Malaga and Valencia in the 13^th and 14^th centuries. They are also known as Persian style and are characterized by the bold use of cobalt blue. The group includes designs with the al-afiya pattern of repeating Arabic letters.

Cast and beaten brass ewer

North India, Mughal, 17^th century. Signed: ‘Abid Karim

Blue glass flask

Iran, Shiraz?, 18^th-19^th century

Although no fine glass is known from Iran between the 13^th and 17^th centuries, Iranian glass is believed to have been manufactured at Shiraz in the 18^th and early 19^th centuries. Some of the shapes are reminiscent of 17^th and 18^th century Italian or Spanih glass, but tall-necked bottles or flsks with trailed or mould-blown decoration and often with wrythen swan-like necks are a local invention.

Ivory sundial and qibla pointer

Bayram b. Ilyas, Ottoman Turkey

AH 990/1582-3 AD

On this very unusual combined instrument the string casts a shadow on the sail-shapped sundial in the centre, while the surrounding area is maked with the information needed for a qibla pointer.

Brass compass for showing the direction of Makka

Iran, 17^th-18^th century

Facing the qibla is a key element in the ritual of prayer. When Muhammas instituted the salat (prayers), he established Jerusalem as the direction of prayer. He later changed this to Makka in accordance with Qur’an.

Tile depicting the Ka’aba

Iznik, 17^th-18^th century

This tile shows the Haram al-Sahrif at Makka, with the Ka’aba at the centre. It also gives the name of the owner, Shehab al-Din Effendi.

Mosque lamps

These lamps were made from colourless glass and free blown to shape. The enamel colours were made from mixtures of crushed glass, and pigments such as lapis lazuli (blue), a precious stone imported from Afghanistan, iron oxide (red) and tin oxide (white). These colours were mixed with water and a little gum, then painted on the glass when cold. The painted glass vessel was then fastened to the end of an iron rod and carefully inserted into the furnace for a short time until the enamels fused into place. This was highly skilled procedure as the glass vessel softened and there was a risk it would collapse.

Astrolabe

Abd al Karim al-Misri, Jazira (probably Mayyafarikin)

AH 638/1241 AD

Glass pot

Syria, 8^th-9^th century

The vessel, acquired in Aleppo, is in the form of a pack animal with a pot strapped to its back. It was blown first, with hot glass trails applied over it later. These vessels are known as “cage flasks” and many have been inspired by 3^rd-4^th century Roman vessels.

Stonepaste dish, underglaze painted

Iznik, Tukey, about 1625-50

During the 17^th century, court patronage of the Iznik workshops declined and potters turned onto other markets. This dish depicts a sailing ship. Around the rim is a “rock and wave” border, originally derived from Chinese porcelain and found on earlier Iznik wares.

Stonepaste ceramic flask with underglaze decoration.

Pakistan, Late Mughal or British Raj, Sind or Multan, 19^th century

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