Islamic Arts 35 By Lucien de Guise Islamic Arts Diary


JEWELS OF THE ADRIATIC Autumn is the best time to be in Venice, and now there is a different reason to be there. Despite the city’s mayor ordering the police to shoot anyone immediately if they shout ‘Allahu akbar’, the legacy of Akbar and other Mughal emperors is on display at the Palazzo Ducale. Treasures of the Mughals and of the Maharajas – Te Al Tani Collection continues its travels around the world, having been to venues as varied as the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Miho in Japan. Tere might be an element of doubtless friendly rivalry between this Qatar royal collection and the equally resplendent holdings of the Kuwaiti royal family. Both have been exhibited at the Met, but Venice is a first for either. La Serenissima is highly appropriate, with its jewel-like qualities and long association with the Islamic world – in the days when it was Europe’s greatest trading power. Now it is the magnificence of old India, rather than biennales or film festivals, that is making itself at home on the Adriatic. Jewels from India have been


admired in Europe since antiquity. From Golconda diamonds to Kashmir sapphires and rubies from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Burma (Myanmar), the Subcontinent and its neighbours have been purveyors of the most sought-after material in royal treasuries around the world. Despite this, it was the rulers of India who prized these possessions most highly. Perhaps because the Mughals were not originally from the land they ruled for centuries, they had even more respect for the fruits of their empire. Having conquered most of the Subcontinent by the 16th century, the emperors encouraged their ateliers to create some of the most exceptional baubles that have


A colourful display is always assured with Indian jewellery, including a gold and jewel-studded finial of Tipu Sultan’s fabled throne (below)


ever been seen. Tese are the main components of the exhibition, which is promoted by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia. It is the first time that Italy has been the venue for the almost 300 pieces from the collection of Qatari royal HH Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Tani. Sheikh Hamad shares the


awareness of many collectors in the past that jewellery is more than mere superficial embellishment. Every gem


From Genoa to the New World


Telling a much older story is Arts of the East: Highlights of Islamic Art from the Bruschettini Collection’ which shows the Islamic works that enchanted Europe during the Renaissance. Te Genoa-based Bruschettini collection is not as well known as some from the Gulf, but it is highly distinguished and never before seen in North America. Genoa, by coincidence is where Christopher Columbus was born. Te venue is the superb newish Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, until 21 January 2018. For this exhibition the contents feature an impressive array of carpets, textiles, ceramics, manuscript paintings and metalwork spanning the 13th to 17th centuries. Te geographical range is wider than the chronological: from Spain to China, Egypt and Iran to the Caucasus on a journey that has been made more dramatic, in Italian style, by the contribution of guest exhibition designer Gerard Gauci, set designer for Opera Atelier. ’We feel very fortunate to partner in the spirit of pluralism with the Bruschettini Foundation for


Islamic and Asian Art,’ noted Aga Khan Museum Director Henry Kim. ‘Arts of the East presents an astonishing view into four centuries of cross-cultural exchange and innovation.’ Gerard Gauci seemed to have something more immediate and less intellectual in mind when he stated, ‘Tese objects are inherently theatrical. I want the visitor to feel moved by their beauty and inspired to unravel the stories they have to tell’.


Among the objects telling these


stories are a 13th-century velvet panel from Iran, shimmering with gold discs suggesting Buddhist symbols of good fortune, and a colourful Ottoman dish meticulously covered with scales – a dynamic pattern that could have been inspired either by Chinese or Italian wares.


Keeping the exchange going


between East and West, in a very different way, the Aga Khan Museum is also having an exhibition of Parviz Tanavoli’s work. Tese days he is described as ‘Iranian-Canadian’, which indicates


how well things must be going in the frozen north. Te Aga Khan Museum is providing a special opportunity for those who would like to see the best of what has come out of Iran in recent years. Tree of Tanavoli’s sculptures (Poet in Love, 2009; Big Heech, 2014; and Tanavoli’s most recent work, Horizontal Lovers, 2016) are now in the Aga Khan Park until 2 October. Tis temporary installation marks the first time that Tanavoli’s Horizontal Lovers, sculpted entirely from bronze, has been put on public display. Acknowledged as one of Iran’s leading artists, known mainly for his bronze sculptures that are inspired by the art of calligraphy, Parviz Tanavoli is a pioneer of the Saqqakhaneh movement of the 1960s. Te movement is recognised as the first school of Iranian modern art, with its associated painters and sculptors incorporating elements from Iranian folk art into their creations. Now he is bringing his work to the people of Canada, who might feel some resonance with the indigenous art of north America.


Te Aga Khan Museum in Toronto is home to the differing delights of the Bruschettini collection and the latest works by Parviz Tanavoli, including his largest ever ‘Heech’ sculpture


Karaite Book of Exodus, circa 900–1100, Egypt, ink and gold on paper, 23.5 cm, Te British Library, London, Or. MS 2540, fols 2v–3r


has a particular meaning, which can be extended to a cosmic purpose. Te Mughals, for example, started life in a cultural milieu that made blue an inauspicious colour. It appears rarely in their jewellery, especially when compared with emeralds and rubies. Needless to say, particular forms of jewellery suggest the rank, caste, region of birth, marital status or wealth of the wearer. Precious metals and gemstones have also been used in the adornment of courtly rooms,


as well as in ceremonial dresses, weapons and furnishings. Te Venice exhibition encompasses much more than jewellery of the Mughals. It takes viewers from Indian jewellery of the 16th century up to the present day, through different cultures that were not all Muslim. Te curators of the exhibition are Amin Jaffer, Senior Curator of the Al Tani Collection, and distinguished Italian scholar of East Asian art Gian Carlo Calza. Amin Jaffer has taken a fascinating route to his present position, having worked for Christie’s before this and the V&A before that. Coincidentally, the V&A held an earlier version of the exhibition not long ago. Amin has written some of the most absorbing material on the meeting of India and the West, which is continued in this exhibition. Te West took a special interest in the subject, not least Queen Victoria, who fell under the spell of the Kohinoor diamond. Te starting point of the exhibition is the court style of the Mughals (1526-1858), the Timurid dynasty founded by Babur after his conquest of much of northern India in 1526. Te Mughals developed their own style and disseminated it across India from the first years of the dynasty. It is to the fourth and fifth Mughal emperors that we owe the golden age of patronage, however, when jewellers merged exquisite gems with both Eastern and Western art and culture. Mughal decline, political instability, and the drift into British colonial rule from the mid-18th century left the patronage of great jewellery in the hands of rulers of the successor states. Maharajas, nizams and nawabs had money and increasingly Westernised tastes, sometimes working closely with leading European houses, particularly with Cartier. Tey brought new life


to the field, setting ancient gems in modern compositions and creating a new design by mixing Indian traditions with Western jewellery culture.


Te exhibition opens with an


evocation of the Mughal treasury, focused particularly on inscribed dynastic gems. Tese begin with two particularly famous diamonds: the Idol’s Eye, the world’s biggest cut blue diamond; and the Arcot II, one of the two diamonds given to Queen Charlotte – wife of King George III – by Muhammad ‘Ali Wallajah, Nawab of Arcot. Both diamonds come from the legendary mines of Golconda. Jade and rock crystal were also


highly prized at the Mughal court. In Islamic culture jade was a harbinger of victory as well as being handy for detecting and counteracting poison. Te wine cup of Emperor Jahangir, inscribed with verses of Persian poetry and the titles of the monarch, is considered the earliest dated Mughal jade. Indian jades were also highly sought after in China, frequently ending up with engraved poems of the Qianlong emperor. Other items were admired by


Western visitors who did not always pay for their collectibles. One such masterpiece is a tiger-head finial from the throne of Tipu Sultan. Tis gold-encrusted and gem-set throne was dismantled after Tipu was killed by British forces who conquered his capital at Seringapatam in 1799 – an event which sets the scene for one of English literature’s best jewel-based stories, ‘Te Moonstone’. Some of the throne’s components ended up in the British Royal Collection while others, like this finial, have re-surfaced only recently. Occasionally, Europe has a chance to shine. Few items anywhere could be as spectacular as the jewellery from the leading Western houses, either designed for Indian princely courts or inspired by Indian jewellery. Breathtaking among these is the enamel peacock aigrette created by Mellerio dits Meller in Paris, 1905, and bought by Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala. ‘Treasures of the Mughals and of the Maharajas – Te Al Tani Collection’ in Venice until 3 January 2018


OCTOBER 2017 ASIAN ART


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