SACKLER EXHIBITION SHOWCASES THE NOMADIC TRADITION OF ROYAL COURTS IN ISLAMIC PAINTING

Cambridge, MA-June 1999-Courts and Countryside: Islamic Painting of the 14th through 17th Century, drawn from the Arthur M. Sackler Museum's outstanding collection of Islamic and later Indian art, as well as selections from the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, allows visitors into the world of Islamic royalty from the fourteenth through the seventeenth century. This exhibition opens on May 21, in the Islamic Galleries of the Sackler Museum, and marks the recent appointment of Mary McWilliams as the Norma Jean Calderwood Associate Curator of Islamic and Later Indian Art.

Courts and Countryside explores the mobile life led by the rulers of the Eastern Islamic world in this period, for whom a tented encampment was often the preferred setting for a royal court. With 25 paintings and a 21-foot Iranian carpet that sweeps down from the ceiling, the exhibition demonstrates the transforming power of textiles: luxurious tents, adorned with costly fabrics, cushions, and carpets, could convert the barren landscape into colorful and comfortable, albeit temporary, homes for princes and their entourages. Courts and Countryside presents depictions of royal camps over a period of 300 years, examining the gradual transition from nomadic warriors to settled rulers. The exhibition closes on August 22, 1999.

Beginning with the Mongol invasions of the early 13th century, waves of nomadic warriors rose to power and established dynasties from Central Asia and India in the east to Asia Minor in the west. Distrustful of the urban culture they had conquered, the early generations of these dynasties were reluctant to settle in cities, preferring to maintain the seasonal rhythm of pastoral nomadism, moving from summer to winter quarters. The ruler was proud to preserve his ancestral mobility in the institution of the royal camp, where he could create a royal court with the ephemeral architecture of tents, canopies, awnings, pavilions, carpets, and cushions, and exercise the power of the state from any point in his territory. The works included in Courts and Countryside bring the courts to life, filled with lavish celebrations and royal functions, including scenes depicting musical entertainment and sumptuous feasts, lovers' trysts, and even murders, as well as more somber images of rulers discussing the business of the court.

A growing taste for brocaded satins and velvets, along with other luxury products of the urban
milieu, may have eased the inevitable transformation of nomadic conquerors to settled rulers. Growing empires, with their increasing political and economic problems, could not be ruled for long from the saddle. The urban classes-bureaucrats, administrators, accountants, clerks, tax collectors, and others-were necessary for the functions of government. Gradually, the culture of the city would overtake this mobile tradition, and by the end of the 17th century most courts had settled into semi-permanent capitals.

The Harvard University Art Museums
The Harvard University Art Museums consists of the Fogg Art Museum (founded in 1891, opened in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (founded in 1902, now housed in Werner Otto Hall), the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (opened in 1985), and the Straus Center for Conservation, located in the Fogg. Through their collections, the Art Museums serve Harvard University as a catalyst for art historical instruction and scholarship, as a training ground for future academic and museum professionals, and as a general resource for the greater-Boston area and all the world.

The collections of the Art Museums consist of more than 150,000 objects in all media, with works ranging from antiquity to the present and from Europe, North America, North Africa, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Developed with an emphasis on their value for teaching and research, the collections comprise a unique resource in terms of breadth and quality, and are one of the finest university art collections in the world.

The Art Museums are open Monday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., and Sunday 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Closed national holidays. Admission is $5.00; $4.00 for senior citizens; $3.00 for students; free under 18 and to all individuals on Saturday mornings and all day Wednesdays. For general information, please call (617) 495-9400. All groups over 7 people must schedule in advance with the group tour office. Please call (617) 496-8576. Web site: www.artmuseums.harvard.edu. The Harvard University Art Museums is supported in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Public Programming

Gallery Talks
Saturday, June 5, 11:30 a.m., Arthur M. Sackler Museum
Sunday, July 25, 2 p.m., Arthur M. Sackler Museum
Sunday, August 15, 2 p.m., Arthur M. Sackler Museum
Mary McWilliams, Norma Jean Calderwood Associate Curator of Islamic and Later Indian Art, and curator of the exhibition, Arthur M. Sackler Museum