Jochen Sokoly – författare

Tracing the currents of change that unite the visual and material culture of the Islamic world across space and timeThe seas have long served as both connective tissue for and barriers between intellectual, social, and artistic traditions. Nowhere is this dual role more evident than within the visual and material cultures of the Islamic world. This remarkable new book brings together an international group of scholars and curators whose contributions address seafaring mobility’s profound effect on Islamic art. Their case studies range across the globe and span a period from Islam’s 1st century to today. Contributors examine the roles of importation and migration, travel, diplomacy, and gift giving in driving artistic innovation and changing the social, political, and religious institutions of an increasingly diverse Islamic world. Taken together, these chapters embody a distinctive big-picture approach, pulling an exceptional diversity of voices and topics into productive dialogue.

Exploring prize textiles known as tiraz, whose meaning and materiality illuminate the interwoven communities of the medieval Islamic worldSocial Fabrics looks at tiraz—highly prized textiles enhanced with woven, embroidered, or painted inscriptions in Arabic—to trace the structure of medieval Egyptian society during a transformative period. It reveals a story as interwoven and complex as these delicate objects themselves. A foundational introduction to the topic, this exhibition catalogue combines richly illustrated entries with essays on the history of Egypt at the time, the meaning and materiality of tiraz, and the history of collecting these objects in US institutions. Created throughout the region (including lands now in Iran, Iraq, and Yemen) in the centuries following the Arab Muslim conquest of Egypt, inscribed textiles were a visual form of communication in a society that was ethnically, linguistically, and religiously diverse. Those with inscriptions regulated by the government were particularly valued, proclaiming their owners’ membership in the ruling elite.Distributed for the Harvard Art MuseumsExhibition Schedule:Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA(January 22–May 8, 2022)

The Islamic world finds itself increasingly at the epicenter of our escalating climate emergency, both as a locus of the petrochemical industry and as home to extraordinary landscapes in which the effects of environmental transformation are acutely felt. Yet, far from a solely twenty-first-century concern, engagement with changing, and often extreme, natural conditions has long characterized Islamic art and architecture in the central Islamic lands and beyond into the Muslim diaspora.  This new book brings together a diverse group of scholars and critics whose contributions address this profound ecological awareness through the dual lenses of Islamic culture and climate change. Their case studies range from the Gulf, Iraq, Syria, the Indian Subcontinent, North Africa, and even outer space. Contributors examine the optimistic, sustainable, and innovative responses adopted by artists and builders in the face of often irreversible and escalating environmental destruction that necessitates such ingenuity. Breaking traditional disciplinary boundaries, this timely book brings together a diverse range of perspectives to bear on this increasingly urgent problem.

A collection of precious decorated Islamic textiles produced before the thirteenth century CE, many published here for the first time. The al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait, includes a remarkable array of textiles from the Islamic world, ranging widely in form, function and place of origin. Textiles of the Early Islamic Caliphates focuses on a group of tiraz and tiraz-style textiles produced before the thirteenth century CE, mainly in the central Islamic lands. Tiraz textiles – the word tiraz can be traced back to the Persian word for ‘embroidery’ – were highly valued in the early Islamic world. Inscribed with sacred invocations and the name of the ruling caliph, together with the names of administrators, the type of workshop in which the textile was made, the workshop’s location and the year of manufacture, these textiles provide an invaluable window into the political, administrative and religious life of early Islam, as well as various traditions of textile production. Other textiles of the period, similar in style but uninscribed, were decorated with colourful medallions, depicting animals and other motifs. The large majority of the surviving fragments of tiraz textiles, which were originally given as robes of honour to courtiers and ambassadors, have been found in Egyptian tombs: most of the textiles examined in this book once belonged to burial outfits from the diverse religious communities in Egypt during the early Islamic period. Featuring more than 180 textiles from The al-Sabah Collection, some never published before, this volume provides authoritative analysis not only of the textiles themselves, but also of the historical and cultural context in which they were produced. With hundreds of illustrations, including specially commissioned macrophotography, Textiles of the Early Islamic Caliphates is a landmark publication that will appeal to scholars and general readers alike.