Art from the Islamic Civilization from the al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait.

Einband berieben, sonst ein gutes und sauberes Exemplar / Binding rubbed, otherwise a good and clean copy. - In July 1975, Sheikh Nasser Sabah Ahmed al-Sabah show his wife, Sheikha Hussah Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah, a splenc enamelled glass botde dating from Mamluk period (Egypt or S; ia, 14th c.), the first object of Islamic art he had aquired during o of his travels. It marked the start of an extraordinary adventure tl mingled intelligence, love, research, curiosity and farsightedness. In ei� years of concentrated and passionate work, the couple collected about 20,0 works of art, including masterpieces, many of which are deserving of study for the way they sb new light on techniques and aspects little-known even to experts, or intriguing because their cret history has yet to be unravelled. On the occasion of the Kuwait�s National Day, 23 February 1983, Sheikh Nasser a Sheikha Hussah offered their country the inestimable gift of the permanent loan of th collection to the National Museum of Kuwait. This volume illustrates 300 from among the most beautiful objects in the Collection and, those exploring the Islamic world for the first time, describes its culture and art o chronological (from the early days to the great sixteenth-century empires) and thematic basis ( ligraphy, geometric decoration, arabesques and figurative art). Lastly, there is a section dedica to jewels, for which the collection is renowned worldwide. / Contents Foreword Hussah Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah Introduction Islam The Art of Islam Catalogue I. The Origins of Islamic Art - 8th to 10th Centuries II. Variety in Islamic Art - 11th to 13 th Centuries III. Expressive Maturity - 14th and 15th Centuries IV. The Apogee of the Great Empires - 16th to 18th Centuries V. Calligraphy in Islamic Art VI. Geometry in Islamic Art VII. The Arabesque in Islamic Art VIII. The Figurative in Islamic Art IX. The Jewelled Arts X. Islamic Coinage Appendix Map Chronology Bibliography.