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The Ottoman court of the late 16th century produced an unprecedented number of sumptuously illustrated chronicles. While usually dismissed as imperial eulogies, Emine Fetvaci demonstrates that these books commented on contemporary events, promoted the political agendas of courtiers as well as the sultan, and presented their patrons and creators in ways that helped shape the perspectives of their elite audience. Picturing History at the Ottoman Court traces the simultaneous crafting of political...

A rare look into the grandeur and distinctiveness of Persian art through one of the world’s leading private collectionsBestowing Beauty showcases an assortment of stunning works from one of the world’s most distinguished private collections of Persian art. Featuring more than 100 exquisite objects spanning many centuries, from the eve of the Islamic period in the 6th century to the end of the 19th century, this wide range of treasures demonstrates the remarkable depth and diversity of the Hossei...

This book surveys four thousand years of pottery production and presents totally unexpected fresh information, using technical and analytical methods. It provides a study of ancient pottery of Jerusalem, from the earliest settlement to the medieval city and brings to light important aspects that cannot be discovered by the commonly accepted morphological pottery descriptions. New insights include the discovery that third millennium BCE pottery appears to have been produced by nomadic families, m...

This volume brings together twenty-four of Ralph Pinder-Wilson's studies on Islamic art, published over thirty years. These deal mainly with the decorative arts - lustre pottery, bronze, jade and glass - a field in which the author is an eminent authority. The objects covered range from early Islamic glass and lustre ware to the ivories produced in Norman Sicily and later Persian bronzes. The art of Mughal India and Afghanistan is also covered, in a number of important studies on manuscripts pro...

"New Vision" is the most comprehensive, scholarly and in-depth survey yet of what is currently happening at the cutting-edge of art in the Arab world. Five essays explore in depth contemporary Arab production, followed by 90 superbly illustrated profiles of key artists, organizations and galleries. Perfect for all scholars, students and lovers of art, as well as all those interested in the broader Arab cultures, it is set to become the touchstone publication on this increasingly important and ex...

In Terracene Salar Mameni historicizes the popularization of the scientific notion of the Anthropocene alongside the emergence of the global war on terror. Mameni theorizes the Terracene as an epoch marked by a convergence of racialized militarism and environmental destruction. Both the Anthropocene and the war on terror centered the antagonist figures of the Anthropos and the terrorist as responsible for epochal changes in the new geological and geopolitical world orders. In response, Mameni sh...

Contemporary artists in Pakistan have, in recent decades, revived and reinvented miniature painting: a traditional artform which had faded under the colonial influence of the British, and is now gaining ground as a medium for a new generation of artists to challenge the world around them. At once traditional and postmodern, the miniature paintings reveal a satirical treatment of serious issues: from religious and political fundamentalism to 'McDonalization', from violence against women to nuclea...

In the wake of controversies over printing or displaying images of the Prophet Muhammad, Christiane Gruber's aim is to bring back into scholarly and public discussion the 'lost' history of imagining the Prophet in Islamic cultures. By studying the various verbal and visual constructions of the Prophet's character and persona over the course of more than one thousand years, Gruber seeks to correct public misconceptions and restore to Islam its rich artistic heritage, illuminating the critical r...

Yezidism is a fascinating part of the rich cultural mosaic of the Middle East. The Yezidi faith emerged for the first time in the twelfth century in the Kurdish mountains of northern Iraq. The religion, which has become notorious for its associations with 'devil worship', is in fact an intricate syncretic system of belief, incorporating elements from proto-Indo-European religions, early Iranian faiths like Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism, Sufism and regional paganism like Mithraism. Birgul Acikyi...

Widely acclaimed as the most comprehensive guide to Jordan's extraordinary historic cities and sites, the new edition has been thoroughly updated. Written by enthusiastic experts with much local knowledge, this Blue Guide is full of detailed practical advice on hotels, restaurants, and places of interest on and off the beaten track.