It seems only to be the King who gets to feast up in the tree-house in this gorgeous folio from a Khamsa of Amir Khusrau in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Wouldn’t that make conversation difficult, even there is a great view of the dancing? Maybe the courtiers down below are struggling with the ta’arof: …
Orientalist display techniques continued even into the famous 1910 exhibition in Munich – which expressly aimed to avoid having an Arabian Nights-style impression “somehow arousing the impression that [the exhibition halls] were buildings, halls, chambers of the Orient” . The exhibition started in an elegant foyer with pointed arches and mashrabiya. This was just a prelude to …
One of the very best Persian carpets ever woven is the Emperor Carpet – a gift from Czar Peter the Great, which ornamented the Summer Palace of the Hapsburgs. Click above to see the fascinating 8-minute video from the Met chronicling its recent three year restoration process – including the removal of 700 patches. And click and …
In 1867, at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, the Turkish ‘quarter’ was designed by the Frenchman Léon Parvillée. It included a mosque (representing the religious sphere), the residential Pavilion du Bosphore (showing the homefront) , and a bath (for social and cultural ritual) —all laid out around an open space with a fountain (for the …
It’s the Ashura day of mourning today. Last year, I wrote about Abu’l Fazl, and how he tried to bring water back to Hossein and his thirsty five-year old daughter. This year, I was looking out for what to send you all and found this moving video. It’s less than 3 minutes and if you’ve …