Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts

FAIN: GI-50201-10

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA 90036-4504)
Linda Komaroff (Project Director: August 2009 to April 2012)

Implementation of a traveling exhibition, a symposium, a catalog, and public programs about Islamic art from the eighth to the 19th century in the context of gift-giving at Islamic courts.

Museum Associates dba the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is requesting a $400,000 implementation grant to support "Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts," a pan-Islamic exhibition of approximately 220 works that spans the eighth through nineteenth centuries. Expected to be a transformative exhibition, one that coincides with a new American initiative in international relations emphasizing our shared humanity rather than our singular histories, this exhibition will introduce an American audience to Islamic art and culture with objects of undisputed quality and appeal, viewed through the universal lens of gift-giving. It will be accompanied by an extensive array of didactic materials and a full complement of interpretive humanities and educational programs, along with a fully illustrated 350-page catalogue with scholarly essays by curators and academics representing a range of interdisciplinary perspectives.

Associated Products

Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts (Catalog)
Title: Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts
Author: Linda Komaroff
Abstract: Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts
Year: 2011
Primary URL: http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/gifts-sultan-arts-giving-islamic-courts
Catalog Type: Exhibition Catalog
Publisher: Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, and London

The Gift of Tradition in Islamic Art (Catalog)
Title: The Gift of Tradition in Islamic Art
Author: Linda Komaroff
Abstract: The offering of Gifts - state, religious and personal - is a practice nearly as ancient and widespread as human culture itself. At courts throughout the Islamic world, the exchange of lavish gifts intimately linked art with diplomacy, religion and personal relationship. This beautifully illustrated book explorer the complex interplay between artistic production and gift-based patronage by discussing works of great aesthetic refinement that were either commissioned or repurposed as gifts. By following the unique histories of certain artworks, Komaroff reveals how t he exchange of luxury objects was central to the circulation, emulation and assimilation of artistic forms both within and beyond the Islamic world. She adds a new dimension to the understanding of Islamic art and culture from the eighth to the fifteenth century.0Exhibition: Museum of Islamic Art, Doha (19.3.2012-2.6.2012).
Year: 2012
Primary URL: http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300184358
Catalog Type: Exhibition Catalog
Publisher: Yale University Press

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