Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting at the Islamic Courts

FAIN: GI-278351-21

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA 90036-4504)
Linda Komaroff (Project Director: September 2020 to present)

Implementation of a traveling exhibition on the arts of Islamic courtly dining culture from the eighth through the nineteenth centuries, including a catalog and public programs.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art requests a $400,000 grant to support the implementation of Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting at the Islamic Courts, premiering at LACMA April - September 2023 before traveling to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Organized by Dr. Linda Komaroff, Curator of Islamic Art, Dining with the Sultan will be the first museum exhibition to explore Islamic visual culture in the context of its related culinary and dining traditions. The exhibition will include more than 200 works from 25 public and private collections spanning the 8th through 19th centuries, including metalwork, ceramics, enameled glass, textiles, and illustrated manuscripts depicting food preparation and dining. Along with its catalogue and programming, Dining with the Sultan will make important contributions to scholarship in multiple humanities fields and will increase audiences’ understanding of the art and culture of the Islamic world and its diverse peoples and traditions.

Associated Products

Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting (Exhibition)
Title: Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting
Curator: Linda Komaroff
Abstract: The 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. It will include some 250 works of art related to the sourcing, preparation, serving, and consumption of food, from 30 public and private collections in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East—objects of undisputed quality and appeal, viewed through the universal lens of fine dining. The exhibition will stimulate not only the eyes but also the appetite, reminding visitors of the communal pleasure of food—both its taste and its presentation. It will provide much-needed information on the enormous class of luxury objects that may be broadly defined as tableware and demonstrate how gustatory discernment was a fundamental activity at the great Islamic courts.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: http://https://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/dining-sultan-fine-art-feasting-0
Primary URL Description: LACMA.org exhibition webpage

Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting (Catalog)
Title: Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting
Author: Linda Komaroff
Author: Michael Govan
Author: Sinem Arcak Casale
Author: Touraj Daryaee
Author: Ashley Dimmig
Author: Maryam Ekhtiar
Author: Farshid Emami
Author: Jessica Hallett
Author: Katherine E. Kasdorf
Author: Deborah L. Krohn
Author: Zoe S. Kwok
Author: Paulina B. Lewicka
Author: Daniel Newman
Author: Charles Perry
Author: Helen Pfeifer
Author: Amir Hosein Pourjavady
Author: Hedda Reindl-Kiel
Abstract: Dining with the Sultan offers a pan-Islamic reach, spanning the 8th through 19th centuries and including some 200 works of art representing a rich variety of mediums. Across its 400 pages, and through an abundance of color plates and new scholarship, the publication introduces audiences to Islamic art and culture with objects of undisputed quality and appeal. Viewed through the universal lens of fine dining, this transformative selection of materials emphasizes our shared humanity rather than our singular histories.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://search.worldcat.org/title/1380459518
Primary URL Description: Worldcat url
Catalog Type: Exhibition Catalog
Publisher: DelMonico Books/Los Angeles County Museum of Art

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