Art Museum
Islamic and Later Indian Art
About the Museum:
Harvard's collection of Islamic and later Indian art is small but magnificent. It comprises a broad range of works, from Samanid pottery and Mamluk calligraphy to Qajar lacquers and Ottoman textiles. The department is particularly strong, however, in painting. Its masterpieces, which rank among the finest in the United States, include a group of miniatures from the extraordinary 14th-century Great Mongol ("Demotte") Shahnama, the Safavid master Mir Sayyid-'Ali's Night-time in a Palace, and the miniatures of the "pocket-size" Divan of Anvari produced for the Mughal emperor Akbar. The department also has one of the most important representations of Rajasthani painting in the world.
The over 2,500 items in the collection include:
Paintings and drawings from the Arab, Il Khanid, Timurid, Safavid, Qajar, Ottoman, Sultanate, Mughal, Deccani, Rajput, and British India periods; Illuminations; Calligraphy; Qur'ans and other manuscripts; Ceramics and tiles; Metalwork, including arms and armor; Textiles and rugs
The collection is displayed in thematically-oriented exhibitions in the Islamic Gallery on the second floor of the Arthur M. Sackler Museum
3
