Bernard O’Kane Synopsis: This presentation discusses the complex of Baybars al-Jashinkir (1309), a Cairene Mamluk monument that comprises a khanqah (Sufi convent) and mausoleum. It situates it within its historical context and compares it with other Mamluk monuments, highlighting features that are both typical and unique (such as its plan). Worksheet: A worksheet for this video…
Category: Topics
İbrahim Müteferrika and the First Printed Books of the Islamic World
Yasemin Gencer Synopsis: This presentation video offers an overview of the first Islamic incunabula printed at the Müteferrika press in the first half of the eighteenth century. A chronological survey of their visual attributes reveals the Ottoman publisher’s early experimentations with the new medium. Worksheet: A worksheet for this video is available here. Also visit…
Painting the Royal Hunt in India: A Prince on Horseback Hunting a Lion
Rachel Parikh Synopsis: The royal hunt was more than just a popular pastime amongst South Asia’s royalty and elite. The sport was used as means to showcase their privilege, justify their rule or future rule, establish their legitimacy, and exhibit their inherent qualities of kingship, such as bravery. Through an unusual painting in the collection…
Islamic Arms and Armor: Dhu’l Fiqar, ʿAli’s Miraculous Sword
Rachel Parikh Synopsis: According to legend, during the Battle of Uhud against the Meccans in 625, the Prophet Muḥammad presented Dhu’l Fiqar, a bifurcated sword imbued with preternatural powers to ‘Ali. The sword is arguably the most important weapon in the Islamic world, and is regarded as an emblem of victory, power, and of ‘Ali…
Harvard Fine Arts Library’s Stuart Cary Welch Islamic and South Asian Photograph Collection
Amanda Hannoosh Steinberg Synopsis: This short video introduces the Harvard Fine Arts Library’s Stuart Cary Welch Islamic and South Asian Photograph Collection, which comprises over 60,000 of the noted curator’s research and teaching slides. The collection is in the process of being digitized and made open access, and this talk both describes the collection and…
Water and Sound in Islamic Architecture
Patricia Blessing Synopsis: This talk examines the presence and meaning of sound and water in pre-modern Islamic architecture. Examples include palaces, religious spaces, and a hospital to present a diverse picture of the ways in which water is present within architecture and human-made landscapes. The sound of water emerges as a major aspect in shaping…
George Floyd in Iran, Syria, and Afghanistan: Visual Commentaries in Islamic Lands
Christiane Gruber Synopsis: George Floyd was killed by an American police officer in May 2020. Although an individual who lived his own life, he became a larger visual metaphor and embodiment for discrimination and death that extended across the world, touching a nerve in Islamic countries as well. Whether in Iran, Syria, or Afghanistan, he could…
A Safavid Painting of the Prophet Muhammad’s Miʿraj
Christiane Gruber Synopsis: This presentation explores a 16th-century Persian manuscript painting that depicts the Prophet Muhammad’s celestial ascension (mi’raj). It focuses in particular on the Prophet’s facial veil and his flaming aureole as well as their relationship to metaphorical expressions as found in Persian Sufi poetry. It also explores the Shi’i symbolism of his headgear,…