8 Exhibitions THE SULTAN


Spoon, India, first half of the


17th century, white nephrite jade, inlaid with gold in kundan


technique and set with rubies and emeralds, 10.2 x 3.1 cm, the al-Sabah Collection,


Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait


Jug with lid, Afghanistan, Herat, circa 484-5 (889 AH),


Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar. Photo: Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar


DINING WITH


Enjoying Coffee,


unknown painter, French School,


Tankard, Turkey, Iznik, circa 1575, fritware,


underglaze painted, height 18.6 cm, diam. 11.5 cm, Museum of Islamic Art, Doha


Turkey first half of 18th century, oil on canvas,


112 x 101.5 cm, Pera Museum, Istanbul


Dish with quails, Iran, late 17th/early 18th century, fritware, underglaze painted, diam. 44.5 cm, gift of Gerald Reitlinger, the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford


department, writes in the catalogue,


Coming together to partake of a meal is a


practice shared by all cultures


T


he act of coming together to partake of a meal is a practice shared by all cultures. Food


defines us – we are what we eat. Dining with the Sultan is the first exhibition to present Islamic art in the context of its associated culinary traditions. Tis novel exhibition includes over 250 works of art related to the sourcing, preparation, serving, and consumption of food, from 30 public and private collections in the US, Europe, and the Middle East. Te catalogue has been arranged


like a menu for an elaborate feast, divided into multiple courses or sections with long and short essays accompanied by regional or period- appropriate historical recipes. Linda Komaroff, curator of Islamic Art and head of the Art of the Middle East


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‘Te allure of food is hardly unique to historical Islamic lands, but rather the act of coming together to partake of a meal is a practice prized by all cultures, past and present. While in the West, our fascination with gourmet culture can be traced to the gastronomic revolution that began in France in the mid-17th century, the culinary arts were transformed in Islamic lands earlier, in 9th-century Baghdad; by the 10th century, there was already a vast body of literature on food and its preparation, enjoyment , and medicinal uses, of which only a fraction remains. What does survive, however, are the objects associated with dining and the sourcing, preparation, serving and consumption of food. Even a cursory glance around any museum installation of Islamic art, or a look inside a related storeroom, would reveal a preponderance of plates, bowls, cups, bottles and trays of all shapes


and sizes, representing a


variety of materials and all manner of decoration’. Tat culinary culture thrived from the early Islamic period onward can


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be attributed in part to the Muslim faith itself and its proliferation beyond Arabia. Technical innovations also helped, such as the development of glazed pottery – imported Chinese wares and local interpretations in which the white glazed nonporous


vessels suggest


cleanliness. Tis appreciation and demand for ceramics, both underglaze and the costlier overglaze painted wares for serving and storing good spread throughout the Islamic land and eventually to the West from the 19th century onwards. Charles Perry notes in the chapter /A Canvas of Cuisines’ that the first cookbook in Arabic, Kitab al-tabikh (Te Books of Dishes) was compiled in the 10th century from private recipe collections of the Baghdad court dating back as far as two centuries earlier. Ten a flurry of cookbooks appeared between the 13th and 15th centuries in Iraq, Syria, Egypt and North Africa. In Iraq, Baghdad, founded in 762,


was strategically located at the crossroads of land, river, and sea routes and swiftly emerged as a great economic capital at the heart of the


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Palace Cook (ashjii), folio in the album The Habits of the Grand Signor’s


Court, Turkey, circa 1620, ink, opaque watercolour and gold on paper,


page 20.7 x 13.7 cm, bequeathed by Sir Hans Sloane,


The British Museum, London


vast Abbasid empire, extending from the Indus west to the Atlantic. Jessica Hallett, who wrote the chapter on


‘Abbasid Tableware and Changing Food Culture’ explains that the capital


had become successful


through trade, taking advantage of its location. Market exchange, associated with growing monetisation, spurred on an economic dynamism that further the grow of elites, who among other activities, enjoyed fine cuisine. Internationalisation of


the


capital also influenced choices and methods of preparation, giving rise to new tastes and the need for new tableware. Hallett writes, ‘On 11 June, 758, the first Abbasid envoy paid tribute to the Tang emperor, leading the caliph al-Mansur (r 754- 75) to declare a few years later that


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