Autumn 2016
Islamic Art
proper forecast for a new-born prince in 1384? Or was there a new reason for assessing the favour of the stars three decades later? Prince Iskandar saw himself as the heir of Tamerlane in spite of the latter’s support of his other brothers. In an anonymous account of the Timurid dynasty surviving in a rare and recently dis- covered album, he is not only celebrated as the ‘the finest offspring’ of this house, but as the intended re- cipient of Tamerlane’s empire and legacy. Just a few months before the horoscope was completed, Iskandar had consolidated his political power in Iran by con- quering Isfahan. The decision to officialise his political ambitions by commissioning a horoscope and confirm- ing the favour of the heavens was thus very much an act of propaganda and self-celebration, a conscious tool in the exercise of power. The most interesting feature of this exercise is found in the illuminated and illustrat- ed chart that accompanies the nativity. The size of the three key planets – the Sun (traditionally connected to royalty), Mars (planet of war and military conquests), and Venus (planet of intellectual and artistic endeav- ours) – in particular is increased in comparison to that of the others, and their position within the zodiacal signs shifted. This was done in order to place the Sun in Taurus, Iskandar’s sign, and thus proclaim that his roy- al fortune had been decided from the start. More humble objects demonstrate the large spec-
trum covered by these practices and the extent to which ordinary men also recurred to their insights and pow- ers. An example is offered by so-called magico-medic- inal bowls, attested since the mid-12th century to this day (figure 3) and pocket-size Qur’ans produced to be easily carried around as protective amulets (figure 4).
Magico-medicinal bowls are so called because they have been traditionally used to cure various ailments thanks to the properties of the words inscribed on them, taken from the Qur’an or including pious supplications. On one of the earliest dated examples, made in Syria in 1169, the inscription lists the range of applications: ‘This blessed cup is for every poison. In it have been gathered proven uses and these are for the sting of serpent […], for a woman in labour […], for migraine and throbbing pain, for hepatic and splenic fever […], for the eye and vision…’. Interestingly the text concludes by saying ‘if one drinks water or oil or milk from it, then one will be cured, by the help of God Almighty’, reminding users that all recovery is ultimately subject to His will. The objects just described, along with other 130 equally exceptional items drawn from international private and public collections, will be on display at the Ashmolean Museum this autumn as part of the exhibi- tion Power and Protection: Islamic Art and the Super- natural. Combining works of staggering quality and scale (as small as 3.5 x 1.8 cm and as large as 340 x 270 cm), many of which have never been presented in public before and which are otherwise inaccessible, the instal- lation offers an opportunity to reflect on the place divi- nation and talismans had within Islamic societies and on the ways in which the continuous debates in favour or against them ultimately shaped Islam itself.
‘Power and Protection: Islamic Art and the Supernatural’
runs at the John Sainsbury
Exhibition Galleries, Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford, from 20 October 2016 to 15 January 2017.
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Figure 4. Miniature Qur’an, Iran, 1307 AH / 1889-90, woodblock print. Presented by Mrs A. Johnson, 1992. Ashmolean Museum (EA1992.42) © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
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