365 Days at the Met

June 24, 2019 Gallery 456, the Moroccan Court (more properly, the Patti Cadby Birch Court, named after its benefactor) was not wrested from anyplace. Based on models in Morocco and in Andalusia, including the Alhambra, it was created especially for the Met in 2010-2011 by craftsmen from Fez, who used traditional techniques of tilework and of plaster- and wood-carving.   Perhaps 20 feet on a side and 12 feet high, the space is intended to evoke the open courtyards of public and private buildings in Morocco and Moorish Spain; accordingly, it is topped by a ceiling of narrow dark wooden beams into which what appears to be a frosted-over square skylight (but may just be lighting tubes concealed by the glass ceiling) has been cut.  The gallery is framed on two sides by columns descending from rounded, carved-plaster arches; on the other two sides are an imposing door and a window frame carved from  the same dark wood used in the ceiling.  The gallery's soo...

June 17, 2019 Gallery 455 is a large space focused on objects -- largely ceramics and manuscripts, but also metalwork bowls and ewers, textiles, and chain-mail armor -- from Iran and central Asia. I'm especially drawn to the ceramics - but then, I have always thought of these as among the greatest glories of Islamic art. One striking piece is a large mihrab, perhaps 10 feet high and 7 feet wide,  from a madrasa in Isfahan, made in the 1350s and composed of hundreds, if not thousands, of cut tile pieces in shades of white, turquoise, dark blue, and gold worked into floral and geometric designs and inscriptions. It's a great coup for the Met's collection. I hear a docent say that the Met purchased it, presumably because the madrasa needed money, and it's comforting to think that it wasn't simply acquired through plunder. Still, one wonders whether it should be in Isfahan. On the other hand, given the current saber-rattling going on between the U.S. and Iran, ...

June 12, 2019 The works in Gallery 454 come mainly from Egypt, Syria, and the Jazira (the area btween the Tigris and the northern Euphrates) and were made between 969 and 1517. Placards explain the succession of various dynasties. These include the Fatimids, who claimed descent from Muhammad's daughter Fatima, and the Ayyubids, who came to power in Egypt under Saladin. Saladin then expanded his realm to include Syria and Yemen; I remember seeing his tomb in Damascus. In Egypt, the Ayyubids were ultimately overthrown by the Mamluks, who, as I learn, were not a dynasty at all. Rather, the term "Mamluk" comes from an Arabic word meaning "owned" and was used to describe elite soldiers with slave origins The Mamluks greatly expanded their empire to include Arabia and southern Anatolia. They also became important patrons of mosques, madrasas, and the arts, in part to legitimize their claims to power.  Today's object is an early 13th century ceramic lantern...

June 7, 2019 Gallery 453 contains works from Iran and central Asia made between the 9th and 13th centuries.  Near the entrance to the gallery stands a three-feet-high incense burner from the Seljuk period and dated 1181-82. Made of cast bronze that was then engraved and pierced, it takes the form of what looks to me like a dog, its ears pricked up, its tongue lolling out. I then read the caption and discover that the dog is really a lion. Oh well... It's a good introduction to some of the gallery's visual treats and objects of interest. I note, for example, a blue- and-white striped ewer with a polychrome top in the shape of a rooster's head, along with a nearly complete chess set -- one of the oldest in the world -- from 12th century Nishapur.  There's also a large ceramic figure of a harpy, which, I learn, was seen as an auspicious figure in Seljuk Iran, although not in other cultures.  I'm struck again by the presence of Arabic inscriptions on everyda...

June 6, 2019 Gallery 452 contains artifacts from excavations that the museum conducted at Nishapur, in northeastern Iran, between 1935 and 1947. The work was interrupted during World War II and taken up again afterwards, with half the objects going to the Met and half to the National Museum of Iran. Further excavations have since been undertaken by a joint French-Iranian team; although the captions don't say so, I would bet that political tensions between the U.S. and Iran have precluded further work by American archaeologists in that country. I'd never heard of Nishapur before.  It was founded in the 3rd century C.E. by the Sasanians and was inhabited until the early 15th century. At its height, it was home to between 100,000 and 200,000 residents- mostly Muslims, but also Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians. Its main claim to distinction -and its source of wealth - is its location on the Silk Road, and some of the objects found there reflect Chinese influences. The ...

June 5, 2019 Gallery 451 focuses on works from the Arab lands and Iran under the Umayyad (644-750) and Abassid (750-1258) Empires. (The captions mention other dynasties as well- for example, the Fatimids and the Seljuks; I wish the captions explained how these fit into the larger historical picture.) Among the works I especially like are a pear-shaped silver vase from 8th century Iran worked with gilded repousse' orbs and a fabulous wall panel from 8th century Egypt made of fig wood and inlaid with what must be thousands of tiny pieces of other woods and of bone,  arranged in geometrical and other forms. As always, I enjoy looking at the lusterware ceramics. I'm absolutely enchanted by an 11th century lusterware bowl from Fatimid Egypt on whose interior is painted a lively rabbit, its forepaw raised, its ears pointing back, and a palmette branch in its mouth. Today's object is a woven matof hemp and straw, perhaps 6 feet long and 3 1/2 feet wide, that was made i...

June 3, 2019 Gallery 450  introduces the 15 galleries devoted to the art of the Islamic world. The gallery's contents include works in multiple media: ceramics, glass, carpets, wood carvings, and paper. One takeaway is the supremacy of the Qu'ran, whose words are incorporated into many of the objects. It turns out that some of my thoughts about important considerations in visiting the galleries that I raised in my last entry- particularly the influence of local cultures and artistic traditions expressed within a unified belief system- were very much on target. On the other hand, contrary to my speculations,  I learn that calligraphy also evolved over time and in different locations. The first work I look at is a beautiful silver pectoral ornament embellished with lots of dangling pendants and inset with large carnelians. It's from a tribal area, probably Turkmenistan, and undated; you can imagine women wearing such ornaments today for dress-up occasions. There...