 Illustration from theGreat MongolShahnameh, 14th century | |
| Date | 25 March – 22 August 2004 (2004-03-25 –2004-08-22) |
|---|---|
| Venue | Somerset House, London |
| Type | Art exhibition |
| Theme | Islamic art |
Heaven on Earth: Art from Islamic Lands was an exhibition ofIslamic art hosted bySomerset House inLondon, England from 25 March to 22 August 2004. It drew from two collections: the UK-basedKhalili Collection of Islamic Art (the world's largest private collection of Islamic art) and Russia'sHermitage Museum.
The exhibition showed a range of fine and decorative art from Islamic countries, spanning more than a thousand years. The works included illuminatedQuran manuscripts, paintings, metalwork, textiles, and ceramics. Critics' reviews were favourable, praising the beauty and diversity of the art on display.
TheHermitage Museum inSaint Petersburg holds Russia's largest state collection of Islamic art.[1] It formed a department of the Islamic East in 1920 and, in that decade, started to run exhibitions of Islamic art.[2] From 2000 to 2007, the Hermitage Rooms atSomerset House in London were used to showcase exhibits from the museum's collections.[3][4]
TheKhalili Collection of Islamic Art is one of the eightKhalili Collections assembled by the British/ Iranian scholar, collector, and philanthropistSir David Khalili. It is the world's largest private collection of Islamic art, with 28,000 objects covering the period from 700 to 2000CE. Exhibitions entirely drawn from the collection have been held in several countries and other exhibitions have featured loaned objects.[5][6][7]
For much of its history, Islamic sacred art has been characterised byaniconism: a prohibition against depictions of living beings. Islamic cultures and time periods differed in how they interpreted this, either as applying narrowly to religious art or to art as a whole.[8][9][10] Islamic artists compensated for the restrictions on figurative art by usingdecorative calligraphy,geometric patterns, and stylised foliage known asarabesque.[10]
The exhibition took up five rooms within theCourtauld Institute of Art, based in Somerset House, and included art from the 8th to the 19th centuries.[11] Geographically, the exhibits ranged in origin fromMoorish Spain toIndia.[12]
TheQuran manuscripts spanned from the 8th to the 16th century, showing the evolution ofArabic script styles and the gradual increase in decorative illumination and colour. They included a folio from the 10th-centuryBlue Quran, which is distinctive for having gold lettering on stained bluevellum.[13]
As well asearthenware andfritware bowls, the pottery includedtiles decorated with calligraphy. A set of tiles from a shrine inVaramin had text with geometric patterns, including quotations from the Quran, the Persian epicShahnameh, and the romantic poemLayla and Majnun.[14]
Although there is a traditional Muslim prohibition on making vessels out of silver or gold, it was not always obeyed, as shown by twogilt silver dishes from the 7th to 9th centuries, showing a lion attacking a bull and a prince slaying lions.[15] Other metalwork included incense burners and water vessels in animal shapes, as well as two cast brass/bronze buckets from the 12th and 13th centuries, decorated with court scenes and fantastical creatures in copper, silver, and gold.[16]
The textiles on display includedphelonions (vestments) made inOttoman Turkey for theOrthodox Church as well asprayer rugs.[17] A black satin panel, embroidered in gold and silver thread, had formed part of thehizam, the belt around the upper part of theKaaba.[18] A 17th or 18th-centurytalismanic coat, decorated with theninety-nine names of God in Islam and Quran quotations, had been made for adervish follower ofYasawi.[19]
The paintings includedMughal miniatures, 18th- and 19th-century Persian paintings, and portraits from India and Iran.[20] Among them wasMusa va 'Uj, a 15th century painting that showsMoses,Jesus, andMuhammed.[21] Many of the figural paintings were by the highly influential 17th century court miniaturistReza Abbasi or by artists taught or influenced by him, includingMo'en Mosavver.[22]
Other media represented included glass (twomosque lamps) and stone, including aMughalstele carved with theshahadah and theThrone Verse of the Quran.[23]
In June there was a changeover in one section of the exhibition. Forconservation reasons, 17 paintings from the Hermitage collection were removed from display and replaced with 26 works from the Khalili Collection. The new exhibits included five folios from the illustratedHoughtonShahnameh.[11]
The exhibition was attended by several art critics who gave it broadly positive reviews. Peter Campbell in theLondon Review of Books described an exhibition that was not large but still "covers a daunting range in time and territory". He noted that most people attending the exhibition could not read the texts, but would still be able to appreciate the skill of the calligraphy.[24] ForAndrew Graham-Dixon in theSunday Telegraph, the exhibition showed common themes between Muslim and Western spirituality and culture. He described the Quran manuscript folios as "moving and beautiful objects" which suited the context of an art gallery surprisingly well.[25] For theEvening Standard, Nick Hackworth describedHeaven on Earth as "the most significant exhibition of Islamic Art in London for almost three decades", praising in particular the "hypnotic beauty" of the decorated manuscript Qurans.[26]
Reviewing forThe Guardian,Jonathan Jones described the objects on display as "beautiful" and advised that "Everyone should look at the art of Islam. It confounds every stereotype - including the idea that Islam is identical in every time and place." At the same time, he said that the Western practice of displaying religious objects in an art exhibition that anyone could visit could be seen as a betrayal of a cultural tradition in which religion was essential.[27] Tara Pepper inNewsweek was surprised at how much of the art was secular in nature. She described the exhibition as reconstructing "the diverse fragments of a dazzling culture".[28] TheAntiques Trade Gazette said thatHeaven on Earth "[packed] a wealth of history" into the five rooms and was "certainly worth seeing".[11] In theFinancial Times, Jackie Wullschager described it as "a sensuous feast" that combined the opulence of secular leaders and the abstraction of Islamic religious art.[29] Andrew Lambirth inThe Spectator also remarked on the contrast between luxury and austerity, describing the exhibition as a whole as fresh and coherent.[30]
A catalogue of the exhibition's 133 objects, edited byMikhail Piotrovsky andJ. M. Rogers, was published byPrestel Publishing. It includes introductory essays by Piotrovsky, Rogers, and A. A. Ivanov of the Hermitage Museum.[31]
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