Cylindrical lidded box with an Arabic inscription recording its manufacture for the ruler of Mosul, Badr al-Din Lu’lu.
British Museum, London
Image: © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY 2.5
British Museum to open new Islamic Art Gallery The Albukhary Foundation Gallery of the Islamic World opens to the public on 18 October 2018. A major re-display of the British Museum’s world-class Islamic collection, the new gallery will be a comprehensive presentation of the Islamic world through art and material culture.]]>
September 01, 2018, Source: British Museum
Situated within a new suite of rooms at the heart of the Museum, it will underscore global connections across a vast region of the world from West Africa to Southeast Asia and reflect links between the ancient and medieval as well as the modern worlds.
Islam has played a significant role in great civilisations as a faith, political system and culture. The new gallery will feature objects that give an overview of cultural exchange in an area stretching from Nigeria to Indonesia and from the 7th century to the present day. From cooking pots to golden vessels, and from 20th-century dress to contemporary art, the objects displayed will demonstrate the extraordinary richness of global encounters. The place and role of other faiths and communities including Christians, Jews and Hindus – will be reflected throughout the gallery, showing their significant contributions to the social, economic and cultural life of the Islamic world.
The British Museum’s collection of Islamic material uniquely represents the finest artworks alongside objects of daily life such as modern games and musical instruments. The collection includes archaeology, decorative arts, arts of the book, shadow puppets, textiles and contemporary art. The creation of the Albukhary Foundation Gallery provides an extraordinary opportunity to display these objects in new ways that showcase the peoples and cultures of the Islamic world, as well as the ideas, technologies and interactions that inspired their visual culture.
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Exhibition of rare Islamic art at Bonhams (exhibition, 2013)
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