A fascinating journey into the Safavid, Ottoman and Mughal empires is in store for visitors of the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) with the recent opening of the “Imperial Threads: motifs and artisans from Turkey, Iran and India” at its Special Exhibitions Gallery.
From the format of the show to the objects on display to the use of technology, the exhibition is more than a spectacle. It is an experience.
Compared to other exhibitions at MIA, the show is distinctive and immersive in which the experience of seeing centuries-old artefacts from the three major dynasties is further enhanced by modern technology such as LED display, floor projections and glass floors as well as music evocative of each of the empires resulting to a truly engaging must-see show.
“We wanted this exhibition to look very special and different. Each of the three sections has glass floor feature because we wanted people to see how the carpets looked like in the palaces, not on the walls as they are usually seen in museums but on the floor. We wanted them to have an idea how grand the palaces would look decorated with various objects and beautiful designs,” Dr Mounia Chekhab-Abudaya, curator of the exhibition, told The Peninsula.
An eye-catching giant spherical LED display, which playfully projects numerous colourful patterns in succession, welcomes visitors at the threshold of the gallery. Similar to the motifs found in the carpets and other objects on display, the changing patterns provide visitors a hint of what to expect inside. A total of 110 pieces from the 15th to 19th centuries comprise the wealth of objects on display , more than half of which have never been shown to the public before. The objects are from the permanent collection of Qatar Museums which has one of the greatest collections of Islamic art spanning over 1,400 years.
“The whole idea is to show the cultural and diplomatic interaction between the three major empires of the early modern era in the Islamic world which are the Ottoman in Turkey, the Safavid in Iran and the Mughal in India,” said Abudaya.
While there are ancient manuscripts, paintings, metalwork, jewellery and ceramics, the carpets serve as the centerpiece of the entire show.
“We have a total of 25 large carpets on display and our textile conservators worked on them for about a year and a half. It was a very long process and we have some of the carpets flat because they are actually quite fragile,” she added.
Many of the carpets are on the floor and none of them are hung on the walls. The visitors walk on meandering bridges, some of which have glass floors with the carpets beneath to allow visitors to see them up close.
The bridge symbolically connects the three empires in each section seen through the motifs in various objects which provides museum visitors a voyage into understanding the artistic and cultural milieu of the period.
The different motifs prominent in carpets and other objects include cloudband, medallion, animal, cintamani, saz, lotus flower, lattice and flower motifs. They appear and reinterpreted in the various pieces produced by artists in the three empires revealing the connection between the neighbouring dynasties.
The exhibition starts with an introductory section on the Timurid period in Iran and Central Asia (1370-1507), the first point through which all the motifs in the exhibition spread.
The first section on the Safavid Empire (1501-1736) showcases works from the Safavid royal Kitabkhanah, or manuscripts workshop, as well as artistic motifs developed under patrons such as Shah Tahmasp. The Safavids played a major role in the transfer of artistic practices by means of travelling artists to the neighbouring Ottoman and Mughal courts.
Following is the Ottoman Empire (1299-1923) section which displays examples of carpets and other mediums characteristic of local tribal designs, merged with outside influences coming from Iranian ateliers produced from the 16th to 18th centuries.
The exhibition concludes with the Mughal Empire (1526-1858) section which offers a look into the culmination of artistic styles integrating Safavid, Ottoman and local traditions. Among the pieces are those with detailed floral designs that represent a major part of the decorative repertoire, found particularly in carpet and jewellery.
Not only does the exhibition enrich people’s knowledge of the arts and cultural exchange during the Safavid, Ottoman and Mughal period, it also resonates to the present through the ancient motifs still evident in carpets and other objects produced today.
Open to the public until November 4, the show goes beyond the walls of the gallery as educational programmes, workshops, activities and events are organized alongside the exhibition with the aim of engaging and enriching young peoples’ lives.
