Sommersemester 2024

Religious Devotion and Luxury of the Courts. Arts of the Object in the Islamic World, 900-1250

Objects of elaborate design and the highest standards of workmanship are in the focus of this class. While the art of the object has been classified as ‘minor arts’ in the mainstream of Art History, and has been in the shadow of painting and sculpture, this cannot be said of the History of Islamic Art. Elegant shapes and rich decoration have long been the subject of formal and iconographic analysis, no matter whether the objects were intended for religious or courtly contexts. This way, objects are important markers of Islamic culture(s) in a period when the caliphate lost its power and smaller residences flourished as centres of artistic production, thus offering a variegated picture regional styles.
After an initial phase of methodological orientation, presentations in class will introduce individual objects. The presentations will form the basis of written papers.