The Islamic World
This illustrated introduction offers a fresh approach to the history of the Islamic world from its origins to the present day. Told in six chapters, arranged both chronologically and thematically, and richly enhanced with outstanding images, it provides an illuminating insight into the material culture produced from West Africa to Southeast Asia through art and artefacts, people and places.
From pre-Islamic works that provided a foundation for the arts of Islam to masterpieces produced under the great empires and objects that continue to be made today, this expansive survey traces the development of civilizations at the forefront of philosophical and scientific ideas, artistic and literary developments, and technological innovations, exploring a wealth of cultural treasures along the way.
Texts are accompanied by a wide variety of objects, including architectural decoration, ceramics, jewellery, metalwork, calligraphy, textiles, musical instruments, coins, illustrated manuscripts, and modern and contemporary art, all of which shed new light on the Islamic world both past and present. This book will inspire and inform anyone interested in one of the most influential and diverse cultures of the world.
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LADAN AKBARNIA has been Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art at the San Diego Museum of Art since October 2019. A specialist on the art of medieval Iran and Central Asia, her interests and publications include cross-cultural transmissions between Iran and East Asia, Persianate drawings, contemporary Middle Eastern art, and issues of display and cultural representation in the contemporary global museum. She was Curator and Assistant Keeper of the Islamic collections at the British Museum in London from 2010-19 and, prior to that, as Hagop Kevorkian Associate Curator of Islamic Art at the Brooklyn Museum in New York (2007-11). She also served briefly as Executive Director of the Iran Heritage Foundation in London (2009-10) and as Consulting Curator for the Aga Khan Museum Collection (2007-9).