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Collection: Arts of the Islamic World

HIGHLIGHTS

Spherical Hanging Ornament Jug (Mashraba) with Human-Headed Inscription and Zodiac Signs Bowl with Kufic Inscription Prince Yahya Bottle Fragment of a Bowl Depicting a Mounted Warrior Top Section of a Water Jug Bowl with Peacock Motif Molded Tile Mirror Case Tiraz Fragment of Caliph Marwan II Medallion Ushak Carpet "Bahram Gur at the Home of Baraham the Jew," Page from an Illustrated Manuscript of the Second Small Shahnama of Firdawsi (d. 1020) Folio of Poetry From the Divan of Sultan Husayn Mirza

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Prince Yahya Mirror Case with Portrait of the Eunuch Manuchihr Khan Mu`tamid al-Dawla Manuscript of the Hadiqat al-Su`ada (Garden of the Blessed) of Fuzuli Battle of Karbala Khusraw Discovers Shirin Bathing, From Pictorial Cycle of Eight Poetic Subjects Bowl with Peacock Motif Spherical Hanging Ornament Tiraz Fragment of Caliph Marwan II Portrait of Ahmad Shah as a Young Boy, One of 274 Vintage Photographs Folio of Poetry From the Divan of Sultan Husayn Mirza Shah Abbas II (reigned 1642-1667) Rosebushes, Bees, and a Dragonfly Mirror Case Album Folio with Calligraphy Fragment of a Bowl Depicting a Mounted Warrior Border Drawings and Page from a Manuscript of "Yusuf and Zulaykha" by Jami (d. 1492) Top Section of a Water Jug Bowl with Kufic Calligraphy Bottle Depicting a Hunting Scene Jug (Mashraba) with Human-Headed Inscription and Zodiac Signs Bowl of Reflections Sultan Sanjar and the Old Woman Hunter on Horseback Attacked by a Lion Bowl with an Enthronement Scene Illustrated Manuscript of the Dalail al-Khayrat (The Ways of Edification) of al-Jazuli Medallion Ushak Carpet Bahram Gur and Azadeh "Bahram Gur at the Home of Baraham the Jew," Page from an Illustrated Manuscript of the Second Small Shahnama of Firdawsi (d. 1020) Cup Molded Tile Mirror Case Panel of Tiles
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COLLECTION HISTORY

Our collection of Islamic art includes about two thousand objects that span thirteen centuries and represent a variety of cultures from around the world, from Spain to India and Central Asia to North Africa. Building upon the initial holdings established by Brooklyn Museum curator Stewart Culin (1858–1929) in the early decades of the twentieth century, the collection has continued to expand from acquisitions and gifts, most notably through the generosity of curator Charles K. Wilkinson (1897–1974) and of the Ernest Erickson Foundation.

Particular strengths of the Islamic collection include medieval ceramics and tilework from Iran (ninth through fifteenth centuries); Ottoman Turkish carpets, textiles, and manuscripts; the arts of Safavid and Qajar Iran, including miniatures, oil painting, calligraphy, ceramics, lacquerwork, carpets, textiles, and costumes (sixteenth through twentieth centuries); and North African and Turkoman textiles, costumes, and jewelry (nineteenth and twentieth centuries). Our holdings of Qajar art constitute one of the world's preeminent collections outside of Iran.