CROSSING CULTURESTEACHERS’ RESOURCE

CONTENTS

Teachers’ ResourceCROSSING CULTURESCompiled and produced by Emma Rogers and Sarah GreenDesign by Joff Whitten

SUGGESTED CURRICULUM LINKS FOR EACH ESSAY ARE MARKED IN BROWN

TERMS REFERRED TO IN THE GLOSSARY ARE MARKED IN GOLD

To book a visit to the gallery or to discuss any of the education projects at The Courtauld Gallery please contact:e: education@courtauld.ac.ukt: 0207 848 1058

Unless otherwise stated all images © The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London

1: INTRODUCTION: CROSSING CULTURES Emma Rogers

2: COURT AND CRAFT: CURATOR’S QUESTIONS Alexandra Gerstein

3: CAPTURING COURTLY LIFE Lara Frentrop

4: GLITTERING OBJECTS OF EXOTIC LUXURY Emma Rogers

5: COLLECTING CULTURES Emma Rogers

6: QALAM: THE ART OF CALLIGRAPHY Keramat Fathinia

7: SUGGESTIONS FOR RESEARCH AND PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES

8: GLOSSARY

9: TEACHING RESOURCE IMAGE CD

WELCOME

The Courtauld Institute of Art runs an exceptional programme of activities suitable for young people, school teachers and members of the public, whatever their age or background.

We offer resources which contribute to the understanding, knowledge and enjoyment of art history based upon the world-renowned art collection and the expertise of our students and scholars. I hope the material will prove to be both useful and inspiring.

Henrietta HineHead of Public Programmes

This resource offers teachers and their students an opportunity to explore the wealth of The Courtauld Gallery’s permanent collection by expanding on a key idea drawn from our exhibition programme. Taking inspiration from the exhibition Court and Craft: A Masterpiece from Northern Iraq (20 February – 18 May 2014), the theme of this teachers’ resource, which focuses on The Courtauld’s collection of decorative arts, is ‘Crossing Cultures’.

Resources are written by early career academics and postgraduate students from The Courtauld Institute of Art with the aim of making the research culture of this world renowned, specialist university accessible to schools and colleges. Essays, articles and activities are marked with suggested links to subject areas and key stage levels. We hope teachers and educators of all subjects will use this pack to plan lessons, organise visits to The Courtauld Gallery and for their own professional development.

Sarah GreenProgramme Manager – Gallery LearningThe Courtauld Institute of Art

Cover images: The Courtauld bag + detail of roundel with harpist

This page:The Courtauld bag (back of bag)Mosul, 1300-1330Brass inlaid with silver and gold15.2cm x 22cm x13.5cm

Image: The Courtauld bag, detail of large roundel with horseman from back of bag. Mosul, 1300-1330Brass inlaid with silver and gold

CURRICULUM LINKS: KS3+Art and Design, History, Art History and other Humanities

1: CROSSING CULTURES: Introduction

Emma Rogers

One of the most beautiful and enigmatic objects in The Courtauld’s collection is an inlaid metalwork bag, thought to have been made in Mosul (now Northern Iraq) during the early fourteenth-century. No other object of this kind is known. This bag is the centre piece of The Courtald Gallery’s exhibition, Court and Craft: A Masterpiece of from Northern Iraq, the occasion on which this teachers’ pack is produced. Based on new research carried out by Rachel Ward, curator of the exhibition and other scholars from The Courtauld and elsewhere Court and Craft explores the origin and cultural context of this extraordinary object, alongside displays of illustrated manuscripts, ceramics and other luxury crafts.

The early fourteenth-century in Mosul followed the great political upheavals in this area, from the old dynastic structures of rule in Persia and Asia Minor. During the 1220’s and 1230’s, the Mongols had invaded the Middle East, as they continued their sweeping and indomitable journey through China and the lands of central Asia. By 1262 they had sacked the city of Mosul and by the early fourteenth-century, when the Courtauld’s metalwork bag is thought to have been made, the city had been absorbed into the Muslim Il-Khanid dynasty that had been formed in the aftermath of the Mongol invasions, and the conversion to Islam of Gazan Khan, great-grandson of Genghis Khan - the great twelfth-century warrior and founder of the Mongol Empire.

During the thirteenth-century, Mosul had been a city famed for the production of fine and luxurious objects, such as the intricately crafted metalwork of which the Courtauld bag is an exceptional example. Made of brass, it has been inlaid with pieces of silver and gold that form elaborate patterns and decorative roundels filled with figures of hunters, dancers and drinkers, all auspicious images for the owner or to whomever it might have been given. Many of these objects were offered as gifts or were commissioned by kings and princes, and bore inscriptions that bestowed blessings and wishes of good health and happiness to their owners. Although Mosul was not the only artistic centre producing inlaid metalwork, it was one of the most highly thought of, and its work much sought after. Objects and craftsmen often travelled many miles to different courts and cities where the pattern and style of their decoration and workmanship inspired other craftsmen and workshops.

Court and Craft displays the Courtauld’s metal bag alongside other objects that were made in Mosul in the thirteenth- and fourteenth-centuries. These are all luxurious items for an elite market, and reflect the habits and customs of the courtly life in the Medieval Middle East. Intricate pen-boxes housed instruments for writing and calligraphy; great ewers, basins, platters and bowls to be used at opulent feasts, and candlesticks and incense burners to light and fragrance the air.

Although we do have other surviving examples of this sumptuous craft form, the Courtauld bag is a unique object. Nothing else survives that might suggest it was a popular type of commission, unlike the pen-boxes, incense burners and ewers. It also has a unique courtly banquet scene on its cover, where the figures are dressed in both Il-Khanid costume and that of the traditional Persian dress. Here we see also the ewers and platters in use, alongside other objects such as mirrors and seating, glass lamps and even an attendant with a shoulder bag.

Court and Craft re-creates this scene as an image of courtly life in Mosul under Il-Khanid control. In establishing their rule across new land and territories, the Il-Khanid rulers bought new cultures and traditions and absorbed those that they found in their new domains and the great trade routes from China to the Mediterranean that they commanded. This crossing of cultures is reflected in the objects that Court and Craft displays; mirrors and woodwork from China, leather from Afghanistan, glass from Egypt, and textiles from central Asia, alongside manuscripts that illuminate courtly scenes and the different customs of the time.

The crossing of cultures that is so ably exemplified in the exhibition provides the inspiration for this teachers’ pack which draws on the larger metalwork and decorative arts collections in The Courtauld Gallery. The essays explore different aspects of this collection, and how the objects express and illuminate cultural exchange from the Medieval and Renaissance periods to the nineteenth-century, when the philanthropist, artist and collector Thomas Gambier Parry brought these objects together.

Capturing Courtly Life, takes the Courtauld bag as its subject, and looks closely at the imagery of the bag and its history. The mysterious figures and the enigmatic courtly scenes are unraveled and the stories

of its intricate decorative designs revealed. We understand how unique and precious this bag is and how it tells a story of its origins, and the crossing cultures reflected in the art of Il-Khanid ruled Mosul.

Glittering Objects of Exotic Luxury widens the scope of this subject matter and introduces The Courtauld’s significant collection of metalwork objects. Exploring the history and technique of inlay it investigates how the objects were used and the role of their decoration and inscriptions. Using a wider lens this essay explores the metalwork objects as mediators in artistic exchange between the Eastern and Western Mediterranean, looking at the practice of export and diplomatic exchange, and the eventual re-imaging of these objects by goldsmiths working in sixteenth-century Venice.

The third essay in this pack Collecting Cultures, takes as its focus the nineteenth-century history of the objects as they were bought together by the artist and collector, Thomas Gambier Parry. The metalwork collection was just one of the groups of objects he collected from culturally diverse artistic sources and in a wide variety of different materials. These were then given to The Courtauld in 1966. In this essay, we look at Gambier Parry’s role as an artist and collector and how this informs the different types of objects he collected.

Finally, the last essay in this pack explores the art of calligraphy so visible in the many inscriptions that decorate the surface these metalwork objects. The art of writing and calligraphy is an important artistic tradition in the arts of Islam and the heritage and practice of this craft is reflected on here.

Court and Craft, is the first time in its history that The Courtauld Gallery has staged an exhibition of art from the Islamic world. It is unique, like the Courtauld bag, but it also provides the inspiration for this teachers pack to study and explore other objects in the collection and the decorative arts that are an integral part of the Gallery’s collection.

2: COURT AND CRAFT: A MASTERPIECE FROM NORTHERN IRAQCurators’ Questions

Alexandra GersteinCurator of Decorative Arts and Sculpture

Q. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME AT THE COURTAULD GALLERY THE SUBJECT MATTER EXPLORED IN THIS EXHIBITION HAS BEEN PRESENTED; CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT HOW IT WAS CONCEIVED?

A. Court and Craft: A Masterpiece from Northern Iraq was conceived as an exhibition focusing on one major work of art in our collection - the Courtauld’s metalwork bag. In that way it was no different from almost all the other exhibitions we have staged here in the past ten years, and for which we have become quite well known. These are small, tightly focused exhibitions on a masterpiece in the collection, where we deconstruct, investigate and contextualise the work in question. We do this through research and collaboration with many individuals and institutions and, most visibly, through a series of meaningful loans that we feel will help to more fully tell the object’s story. What makes Court and Craft different, however, as you rightly say, is that this is the first time that The Courtauld Gallery will present an exhibition of Islamic art.

Q. CAN YOU TELL US HOW YOU PREPARED THE COURTAULD BAG FOR DISPLAY IN THIS EXHIBITION?

A. This was the big challenge of the exhibition, and also in many ways, the most exciting part. The bag needed to be cleaned. It was tarnished, dull and the details (especially the courtly feast scene on the lid) were very hard to understand. The colour effects of the brass, silver and gold were totally lost, as was the sense that this was a splendid luxury object. We appointed a highly respected and senior conservator, Diana Heath, metals conservator at the Victoria & Albert Museum and Westminster Abbey, and she worked with great precision and dedication at cleaning all the accumulated dirt, corrosion and a very stubborn layer (or layers) of old lacquer which had got into all the interstices of the surfaces. She coaxed all this out – the lacquer in particular – and achieved the most resplendent and balanced result. After this intense work, the object once more, as curators like to say ‘sings’. It has been reinvigorated and now really conveys all the subtle tonal variations that it was intended to.

Q. WHAT WERE THE MAIN CHALLENGES THAT THIS EXHIBITION PRESENTED AND HOW DID YOU OVERCOME THEM?

A. Working with three-dimensional objects always entails a hugely collaborative approach. Research and display is multifaceted. Displaying such complex objects in a wide variety of media is never straightforward, not least because of the various conservation requirements. The ideal lighting and environmental conditions are completely different for leather and works on paper than they are for more robust objects made of ceramic or metal.

For Court and Craft, I feel we upped the ante in terms of collaboration because we created a small ‘AV’ section, with a recording of a reading of the inscription on the bag, by Hilal Saodiy (recorded in Munich!) and, new to us, we worked with cutting edge digital technology. John Hindmarch, who is in the third year of his Doctorate in Engineering at University College London, created a 3D digital model with additional features created using a wonderful technique of visualisation called ‘Polynomial Textural Mapping’ (PTM), produced by another researcher at UCL. To produce this meant bringing our object to their lab on two occasions, for scanning and capturing in the PTM dome. It also meant that John used a precision photography technique called photogrammetry to capture the Courtauld’s metal bag. Hundreds of photographs of the bag have been taken, in addition to the conservator’s microscopic photographs. We hope the result, which will be playing on a loop in the exhibition itself and on The Courtauld Gallery website (the latter will be interactive) will appeal to people’s imaginations and give them a sense of what this splendid object looks like from all angles, including views inside, underneath and zooming in at high definition.

Q. WHAT ASPECTS OF THE EXHIBITION DO YOU HOPE WILL LEAVE A LASTING IMPRESSION ON VISITORS WHO COME TO SEE IT?

A. I hope that visitors to the exhibition will feel a little like they are entering into the ‘life’ of this exceptional object. There are numerous painted manuscript pages that show bags of this type in use, as depicted in court scenes and ceremonies. There will also be opportunities to look very closely at a beautiful group of metalwork objects made between about 1230 and 1330. Hopefully visitors will leave the exhibition with a greater, more in-depth understanding of the context of one of the highlights of our collection.

Image: The Courtauld bag, detail of roundel with harpist, before (top) and after (bottom) conservationMosul, 1300-1330Brass inlaid with silver and gold

CURRICULUM LINKS: KS3+Art and Design, History, Art History and other Humanities

The Courtauld’s metalwork bag (image 1) is a unique brass object decorated with silver, gold, and black inlays, made up of an intricately decorated body and double-hinged flap. The interior of the bag is now bare, but it was probably once lined with fabric or leather (image 2). It was bequeathed to the Courtauld Gallery in 1966, as part of the nineteenth-century collection of Thomas Gambier Parry. Due to its unusual shape, the bag was initially termed a ‘wallet’ by scholars, who assumed that it was made to contain important princely documents. Its dating as well as its supposed geographic origin remains disputed. It is now considered most likely that the Courtauld bag was made in Mosul, in northern Iraq, in the opening decades of the fourteenth century.

Mosul had long been an important trade centre, due to its location on the main route between the Mediterranean and the Arabian Sea. During the thirteenth century, it was an esteemed centre for the manufacture of luxury goods, notably inlaid metalwork and silk textiles. A visitor to the city in 1250 wrote: ‘Mosul... There are many crafts in the city, especially inlaid copper vessels which are exported and presented to rulers, as are the silken garments woven there.’ However, after a lengthy siege, Mosul was captured and looted by the Mongols in 1262. Documentary evidence suggests that this did not appear to affect craftsmen in the city, which continued to be famed for its silk production. Neither was the sack of Mosul a deathblow to its metalworking industry. Accounts of several luxury metalworkers in Mosul dating from the years before the conquest up to the early fourteenth century attest to the fact that these craftsmen either survived in or returned to the city and remained active, producing inlaid metalwork throughout. Other metalworkers, trained in Mosul, left the city but largely upheld its stylistic and technical traditions, using the words ‘al-Mawsili’ (of Mosul) to sign their work, almost like a badge guaranteeing quality. Craftsmen active in Mosul during the late thirteenth and the early fourteenth centuries went on to produce some of the most extravagant surviving inlaid metalwork by adapting traditional styles whilst also embracing innovations in the form of the art of the Mongol Il-Khanid dynasty. The Courtauld bag is proof that in metalwork

3: CAPTURING COURTLY LIFE:The Courtauld Bag

Lara Frentrop

Image 1: (above)The Courtauld Bag

Image 2: (below)Bag with lid open

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THE BAG [...] IS DECORATED THROUGHOUT WITH A T-SHAPED PATTERN THAT SERVES AS A BACKDROP FOR THE CAREFULLY WORKED MEDALLIONS ON ITS FRONT, BACK, SIDES, AND THE LID

there was, on one hand, continuity from the traditions of pre-Mongol Mosul under the reign of Badr al-Din Lu’lu, and, on the other, a shift in emphasis with the adoption of more innovative styles in response to a new group of artistic patrons.

The bag, which is fifteen centimetres high and twenty-two centimetres at its widest, is decorated throughout with a T-shaped pattern that serves as a backdrop for the carefully worked medallions on its front, back, sides, and the lid. The intersecting circles on the front of the bag show a mounted rider who is spearing a lion with a long lance (image 3). Like all the figures on the bag, he is haloed – a tool for drawing attention to the heads of individuals (and sometimes animals) at this period, rather than a symbol with religious significance. The medallion with the lion-killer is framed by four floral designs, as well as four roundels that depict seated figures playing instruments or holding drinking implements (two of these are partially obscured by the bag’s lid).

This pattern is repeated on the reverse of the bag (image 4), with only minor differences: here, the horseman has a large bird of prey perched on his arm, and the cross-legged figures in the roundels hold different objects. The sides (image 5 and 6), which feature fastenings for the leather strap that once would have served to carry the bag, are decorated with more floral and animal patterns, along with two roundels on each side that depict further seated musicians and individuals with cups and beakers. On the bag as a whole, we can find eight musicians playing instruments – one harp, two flutes, three tambourines, and two ouds (images 7 and 8) – and six figures with a beaker or a bottle (image 9). The instruments and the drinking implements are typical of intimate entertainment that often took place indoors. The floating tendrils behind the musicians may suggest the billowing scarves of dancers in the background, completing the scene of aristocratic leisure pursuits.

The varying images distributed across the bag are to be read by the viewer as a single unit. Together, the musicians, drinkers, and riders on the sides, back, and front allude to a favourite courtly pastime – the hunt –

Image 3: Front of bag with lid open

Image 4: Back of bag

Image 5: Detail of left side Image 6: Detail of right side

Glory and prosperity and (God’s) grace and eminence

And fulfilment of wishes and prudence in deeds

And respect and honour

And benevolence and decent act (?)

And undiminishing good-fortune

And uninterrupted happiness

And perfection and excellence

And that is all.

Image 7: Detail of roundel with tambourine player

Image 9: Detail of roundel with revellerImage 8: Detail of roundel with harpist

and the feasting and drinking that would follow a successful expedition. The hunt – or the ‘pursuit of protein, profit, power, and pleasure’ – was not only a necessity, but also a pleasure shared across geographical, cultural, ethnic, and social divides. For nomadic rulers, the skills needed for the hunt, such as co-ordinating manpower, laying snares, and deploying stealth, were largely interchangeable with those needed on the battlefield. The hunt also offered the occasion for the display of wealth, power and skill, as the animals required for the expedition, notably trained falcons and horses, were expensive to acquire and in upkeep, and the domination of the animal world demonstrated the ruler’s potency. The feasts following the hunt provided the opportunity not only to socialise and be entertained, but also for the granting of appointments and favours.

The artwork’s narrative and iconographic unit is completed by the scene on the lid, arguably the most important decorative element (image 10), as it gives us important clues as to its original function and owner. The lid is made up of a rectangular panel depicting a scenario from courtly life around which runs an inscription in Arabic:

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THE FLOATING TENDRILS BEHIND THE MUSICIANS MAY SUGGEST THE BILLOWING SCARVES OF DANCERS IN THE BACKGROUND, COMPLETING THE SCENE OF ARISTOCRATIC LEISURE PURSUITS

CURRICULUM LINKS: KS3+Art and Design, History, Art History and other Humanities

All images: The Courtauld bagMosul, 1300-1330Brass inlaid with silver and gold15.2cm x 22cm x13.5cm

Image 10: Lid of bag

This inscription includes phrases of good wishes to the owner, specially composed for the bag. Such inscriptions are common on inlaid metalwork and most of the phrases are popular throughout the Islamic world, but they vary in their choice of words and arrangements from object to object.

At the heart of the inscription lies the ‘Court Scene’, which is the focus of the decoration of the bag and was probably designed specifically for the lid by an artist with an extensive knowledge of courtly customs and dress. Although the scene is small, it is executed in such detail that contemporary furnishings and vessels are easily identifiable within it. In the centre of the scene, a man (to the left) and a woman (on the right) are seated together on a low platform. The man, identified by his facial features as the portrait of a Mongol, is holding a beaker to his lips. On his left, the appropriate place for a ruler’s consort according to Mongol protocol, sits the woman, whose face is missing its inlay. In one hand, she is holding a fruit – probably a pomegranate, symbol of fertility - , and with the other, she is gesturing towards her companion, in an animated motion that shows conversation. The woman seated next to the man reflects not merely their marital relation or mutual affection; her position is also an expression of the matrix of political power. Mongol ‘first ladies’ and princesses had exceptional social and political power at the time of the Il-Khanate. This was achieved through their considerable rights and privileges, including taxation rights, a share in booty, their own camps, retinue, and military support, the right to issue decrees with their own seals, and their ability to move around independently of their husbands for lengthy periods at a time. Some of them minted their own coins; all of them played a major role in the election of succeeding Il-Khans. Consequently, marriage was an important tool in harnessing the power of the females and their dynasties.

The couple, who are shown on a larger scale than all the other figures, are surrounded by attendants and courtiers. To the left of the prince, a courtier is kneeling down, holding out a bowl. He is the only one comparable in size to the seated couple. As scale was a way of indicating importance and hierarchy, the

courtier’s size, as well as his beard and his separation from the other attendants by a table could indicate that he is on a similar level of authority to the seated pair. On the table behind him are placed two bottles; the one on the right may be a special vessel to contain qumiz, the traditional drink of the Mongols, made of fermented mare’s milk. Behind the table stands a man with a bowl in his outstretched hand. Behind him another man is depicted, with a bird of prey perched on his arm. There are four more figures to the left of the seated woman. Immediately next to her is her page, who is holding a mirror and a napkin. On his shoulder, he is carrying a bag with a flap opening, suspended by a gold strap. This could be a representation of the Courtauld bag itself. Behind the page are three attendants: the first is holding a parasol, the second carrying a bottle, and the third, a musician playing the oud.

Significantly, if the bag carried by the attendant is supposed to represent the Courtauld bag itself, then the female must represent its real owner accompanied by her husband and attendants. The pomegranate and the presence of the consort next to the male figure in the image express a concern with fertility and the continuation of a blood line, guaranteed through the female. In combination with the courtly nature of the scene, it seems likely that the couple depicted on the bag are royal, although it will probably never be possible to identify them. The bearded courtier kneeling next to them might represent an official at the Mongol Il-Khanid court, such as a local governor. These governors were responsible for overseeing specific regions of the empire, as the royal court was nomadic and moved from one area to another. One of the governor’s duties would have been to prepare festivities, feasts, and hunting excursions for the arrival of a royal party, as well as ordering gifts that were to be presented to the visiting rulers. This has led to the suggestion that the bearded official depicted on the bag might be the real individual that gave the actual bag to the royals as a diplomatic gift, and that therefore the scene on the Courtauld bag depicts both the activities of the court in a general sense, and a specific event.

As mentioned previously, it was initially assumed that the bag was a man’s wallet used to carry documents and seals. However, it is now considered that it was not a Prince’s bag, but a woman’s property, as visual evidence suggests.

Many depictions of noblewomen in fourteenth-century Iran and Iraq show a bag being carried by her attendant. Paintings of Mongol women sometimes include a female attendant carrying a box, which holds the utensils for the lady’s toilette. Bags shown in depictions of the Il-Khanid court are seemingly made of embroidered silk or leather, and consequently likely to perish. A precious and intricately decorated object such as the Courtauld’s metalwork bag would have made a more lasting and appropriate gift to a visiting noblewoman, demonstrating the famed metalworking skills of Mosul. The bag may have served to contain objects such as those held by the attendants depicted on the Courtauld bag: mirrors, napkins, and perfume bottles; or, perhaps, objects for the female toilette not appropriate for public display. This is why the Courtauld ‘wallet’ has been renamed a ‘bag’, and although this appropriately describes the function of the object, it does by no means justice to such an exquisite and glamorous object.

FURTHER READINGRachel Ward (ed.), Court and Craft: A Masterpiece from Northern Iraq (London: Courtauld Gallery, 2014)

4: GLITTERING OBJECTS OF EXOTIC LUXURY

Emma Rogers

Taken from the preface to a Persian album of paintings in 1544, this comment well sums up the appreciation and wonder produced by complex designs and skilled craftsmanship in the eyes of a beholder of great art works. The Courtuld Gallery’s collection of metalwork from the Medieval Middle East and Renaissance Venice are beautiful and astonishing examples of luxurious objects created to be admired for their artistic skill and intricate designs.

These valued objects date from the thirteenth to the sixteenth-century and were produced by some of the most sophisticated craftsmen in well established centres of metalworking such as Mosul in northern Iraq, Damascus in Syria and Cairo in Egypt. The majority of these objects were made of brass and inlaid with gold and silver to create glittering patterns that dazzle the eye. Their differing patterns and imagery reflect the development of different artistic styles in the Islamic lands of their manufacture as well as illustrating the influence of these designs on the goldsmiths of Renaissance Venice and western Europe. The technique of inlay was developed in eastern Persia, in the early twelfth-century. It was created out of older decorative techniques of engraving metalwork, as a way of making more ordinary brass and copper objects increasingly ornamental and attractive, with detailed patterns and motifs. This love of decorative ornament led to ever more intricate designs that covered the entire surface of the brass object, and the addition of gold and silver helped make these designs more strikingly visible, creating shimming contrasts that further enlivened the patterns. The addition of such precious metals and their lively designs elevated the humble brass pieces into prestigious luxury objects, and the skill and beauty of their craftsmanship made them sought after by rulers, aristocrats

IF IT IS A FORM NOT WORTHY OF ASTONISHMENT, IT IS NOT WORTHY OF THE BRUSH

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and merchants, with certain cities such as Mosul made famous for their wares. These craftsmen also traveled, and were sometimes summoned or exported to different ruling courts and cities where they shared their skills and set up new workshops, developing some of the different styles that can be seen in the small collection of these objects in The Courtauld Gallery.

Many of the metalwork pieces that are on display in The Courtauld Gallery would have been used at sumptuous banquets, where their gold and silver decoration would have shimmered in the candle light, amongst plates piled with fruit and sweetmeats. The banquet scene that is depicted on the Courtauld’s metalwork bag is a fine example of this; rulers seated on thrones are surrounded by attendants and dressed in fine textiles, many imported from great distances and carried by merchants along ancient trading routes. Popular objects included bowls and dishes to pile with food, cups and ewers to hold wine, and incense burners to fragrance the air.

Some of the objects, including the Courtauld bag are decorated in with princely images that reflect their courtly use. Musicians play pipes and stringed instruments, female figures dance, seated figures drink from cups of wine and mounted riders prepare for the hunt with falcons or cheetahs accompanying them. One particularly engaging spherical incense burner, probably made in Syria in the late thirteenth-century, is decorated with different astrological symbols and personified representations of the plants (image 1).

These images not only represent the pursuits of pleasure and courtly life, they were also seen as auspicious motifs that brought luck and blessings to the owner or to whomever might receive the object as a gift. Some evoke the descriptions of paradise that are contained in the Koran and many images were often accompanied with inscriptions that bestowed blessings and good fortune on the owner. Several examples in the Courtauld collection carry dedicatory inscriptions that acknowledge their illustrious patrons. The surface of the base of a very large candlestick (image 2) from fourteenth-century Mamluk Egypt is almost entirely filled with a bold Arabic inscription that reads:

Glory be to our lord the Sultan al-malik al-nasir Ahmad bin Sultan al-malik al-nasir Muhammad bin Sultan Qalawun'

Another large bowl (image 3) is also dedicated to Sultan al-Malik al-Nasir, repeatedly honoring him as “the wise and royal”.

Like the inscription on the candlestick, the bold Arabic calligraphy is used as both script and as the primary decorative motif. The large cursive characters on the bowl form a wide border around the rim, punctuated by decorated roundels filled alternately with floral tendrils and birds (image 4).

Image 3

Image 4

Large candlesticks were often commissioned by illustrious figures for use in mosques, and those made in Mamluk Egypt favored the use of script over figural images, but a second candlestick in the collection (image 5) shows how different workshops and rulers could produce objects in very different styles. Here, the base the candlestick is decorated with a dense floral pattern which frames roundels containing figures – a seated ruler each flanked by two attendants. Looking at the image, you might think that the halos that crown their heads suggest that these are images of Christian saints, and these sumptuous metalwork objects were often commissioned by Christians in the Levant; candlesticks, platters and ewers could be required for both personal use or in churches. However, in this case, the halo denotes a regal status rather than a saintly one, using the halo to draw attention to the heads of the figures, rather than to single them out as saints and holy figures.

The use of Christian imagery on some surviving objects is a reminder of the different cultures that inhabited the lands where these objects were made, as well as western Europeans who traveled and settled to the Levant as crusaders, merchants and pilgrims and then later as part of the maritime empires built up by the Italian cities of Venice and Genoa. All these different groups of people would have had the opportunity to collect, commission and travel back to Italy and other parts of western Europe with luxury objects and textiles, and glittering metalwork objects were greatly admired in the later Medieval periods and in the Renaissance, as objects of great beauty and fine craftsmanship.

A small bowl decorated with dense, formal floral designs (image 6) is particularly important, as it is one of a small number of objects signed by its maker, one

Mahmūd al-Kurdī. It is, however, signed in both Arabic and in Latin. This reads AMELIEMALENMAUD or “the work of master Mahmūd”. The bi-lingual

inscription suggests that the bowl was either commissioned by a European, or even deliberately made with the bi-lingual inscription to make it attractive for a commercial market that might include both Arabic and Latin speakers.

In fact, the work of Mahmūd, along with other objects that bear a similar style or decoration, was originally thought to have been made by Muslim craftsmen from the Levant who had moved to Venice to make these objects for the Italian market, and for export further west. Two large dishes of this type in The Courtauld collection along with a pair of candlesticks were known as “Veneto-Saracenic” (image 7) work up until about 1970. Art Historians are now certain however that these workshops are a myth and Mahmūd was most likely a master craftsman working in Cairo in the late fifteenth-century. The popularity and impact inlaid metalwork had in Italy and other parts of western Europe is no less diminished by this fact. The bi-lingual inscription on Mahmūd’s bowl highlights the western market for these objects, and the “Venetian-Saracenic” dishes and delicate candlesticks are examples of metalwork made in Venice and parts of Germany by expert goldsmiths. These goldsmiths copied and were inspired by these imported works, making them for patrons who delighted in their decorative patterns and luxurious material. The Venetian dish (image 8) is decorated at its

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centre by the heraldic shield of its Venetian owner, but the outer designs closely resemble the dense, formal floral patterns that can be seen on the Mahmūd bowl.

Like the jugs, ewers, plates and bowls of older origin, western European imitations would have also been used to adorn the banqueting tables in rich aristocratic households. They were also used in churches as liturgical items to celebrate the Mass. Both the fine sixteenth-century Venetian objects and those imported from further east served as artistic inspiration for the great masters of Renaissance Venice, where examples can be found in paintings by Bellini and Carpaccio. Even some of Leonardo da Vinci’s studies and drawings for inventions might have been inspired by objects like the little incense burner in the collection. Georgio Vasari comments on the skill and artistic beauty of these metalwork objects describing them as:

“These works [that] are made in Damascus and in all the Levant with real perfection”.

In many ways it is the luxuriousness of the materials they were made from that ensured the survival of these intricately decorated objects. In addition to the value attached to them for their fine craftsmanship, the gold and silver inlay made sure that they carried an additional monetary value, so unlike the simpler brass and copper objects, glittering, inlaid brass was less likely to have been melted down to create other objects or utensils. Their survival provides a valuable insight into the variety of designs originating from different geographical and cultural centres, and to understand the impact that these designs had when they were brought to the great artistic cities of Renaissance Italy.

Image 1: Metalwork incense burnerMamulk Egypt, 14th CenturyMetalworked brass and silver inlayDiameter: 5.3cm

Image 2: Metalwork candlestick baseMamulk Egypt, 14th CenturyMetalworked brass and silver inlay17.5cm x 33.5cm

Image 3 + Image 4 (detail) Metalwork bowlMamulk Egypt, 14th CenturyMetalworked brass and silver inlay16.5cm x 30.7cm

Image 5: Metalwork candlestickEastern Anatolia, late 13th CenturyMetalworked brass and silver inlay20.4cm x 19.4cm

Image 6: Metalwork bowlMahmūd al-KurdīProbably Egypt, late 15th CenturyMetalworked brass and silver inlay7.6cm x 15.8cm

Image 7: Pair of metalwork candlesticksVenice, 16th CenturyMetalworked brass and silver inlayHeight, 15.9cm

Image 8: Metalwork dishVenice, 16th CenturyMetalworked brass and silver inlayDiameter: 45.9cm

FURTHER READING: Rachel Ward, Islamic Metalwork (London: Thames and Hudson, 1993)

Stefano Carboni, Venice and the Islamic World 828-1797, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007)

CURRICULUM LINKS: KS3+Art and Design, History, Art History, and other Humanities

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5: COLLECTING CULTURES

Emma Rogers

The Courtauld’s metal bag, along with the other metalwork objects that form the focus of the essay ’Glittering Objects Exotic Luxury’ all originally belonged of the collection of Thomas Gambier Parry (1816-88), a wealthy Victorian philanthropist, artist, collector and writer. Alongside Gambier Parry’s collection of other decorative art objects and many paintings, these were given to the Courtauld Gallery in 1966 by his grandson.

The metalwork forms an integral part of a carefully acquired collection of objects and paintings by Gambier Parry who, as both an artist, collector and great patron of the arts, associated with, met and corresponded with many of the leading figures of art and design in mid-nineteenth-century Britain, including the likes of Sir Henry Cole, founder of the South Kensington Museum, and John Ruskin, artist, writer and art patron. He was also a man of great artistic knowledge with a keen eye and an inexhaustible interest in a great variety of objects and subject areas including, though not limited to, horticulture, botany, music, art and the Anglo-Catholic movement in the Church of England.

Gambier Parry’s collecting of this particular kind of metalwork was not haphazard, or done with the purpose of simply acquiring ‘curiosities’. Many of the pieces were acquired from the viewpoint that they were “Veneto-Saracenic” objects, crafted by Muslims in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Venice and valued for their intricate designs and fine technical skill. These objects were often viewed by nineteenth-century art scholars as a way of mapping the progress and development of Renaissance designs and techniques in the decorative arts. The extent to which Gambier Parry saw his pieces as clearly representative of the work of different cultures is not entirely clear. His travel books and records, which account for many of his purchases, describe some pieces of metalwork as ‘oriental’, a rather archaic and simplistic term now, but one that then signified an ‘eastern’ origin, not of western European manufacture. The Courtauld bag is referred to as an ‘oriental box’ and Gambier Parry might also have attached this description to pieces like the Mamulk bowl (discussed in the previous essay), where large Arabic inscriptions denote its purpose and use in a

Muslim context. Others pieces, particularly the later metalwork, and, perhaps, works such as a candlestick decorated with haloed figures, he more likely associated with a Venetian or Eastern Christian world.

Gambier Parry’s metalwork collecting was possibly born of curiosity and an aesthetic appreciation for these decorative objects, but it is clear that this developed into a more specialised interest. One of the first objects that he bought was a small bucket of so-called Veneto-Saracenic work acquired from an art dealer on Bond Street before 1851 (image 1). A number of the other works were acquired in 1858

on a trip to Italy and Croatia; the Mahmūd al-Kurdī bowl he purchased in Zadar and, although not documented, it is probable that the Courtauld bag was obtained during this trip, perhaps in Venice. Notes that Gambier Parry left from his travels detail how important and special some of the metalwork pieces he had purchased were, pieces like the Courtauld bag and the Mahmūd bowl. In describing some of the metalwork that he saw on his travels, he comments on Sebrenica as a rival to Damascus, showing how he had developed some clear thought into the origins and production of these objects.

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Gambier Parry’s metalwork collection was just one strand of a variety of decorative art objects that he acquired from different periods and in array of media. The preservation of this whole collection after his death and its bequest, both of paintings and the decorative arts, has meant that The Courtauld Gallery holds a rare and almost complete personal collection of an important nineteenth-century art figure. The decorative arts within it include a large collection of Italian maiolica ceramics. These vivid glazed objects from the fifteenth and sixteenth-centuries were acquired on Gambier Parry’s various trips to Italy. The pieces themselves reflect the different poles of the commercial market the ceramics were made for. Many were practicably used for storage, and Gambier Parry collected a number of brightly coloured apothecary jars and jugs that once contained pastes and ointments for various ailments. These were often decorated with busts of beautiful, idealised women or pictorial references to the remedy held within. An attractive example in the collection is a pair of jugs that would have contained oil or syrups. The spouts are formed in the shape of a dragons’ head, whilst busts of two female figures decorate the body of the vessels, with inscriptions detailing the contents of the jar. The abbreviated inscription on the jug in image 2, tells us it would have contained Syrupus de Pomis, a syrup made from apple juice with senna, violet, borage and bugloss leaves and used for ailments such as stomach ache and fever.

”

THE ABBREVIATED INSCRIPTION ON THE JUG TELLS US IT WOULD HAVE CONTAINED SYRUPUS DE POMIS, A SYRUP MADE FROM APPLE JUICE WITH SENNA, VIOLET, BORAGE AND BUGLOSS LEAVES AND USED FOR AILMENTS SUCH AS STOMACH ACHE AND FEVER

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Image 1: Metalwork bucketMamluk Egypt, c.1500Metalworked brass and silver inlay11cm x 23.1cm x 22.7cm

Image 2: Dragon-spouted drug jar or orciolo with two female half-length figuresItalian (Castelli), 16th CenturyTin-glazed earthenware25.3cm

Image 3: Deep dish depicting crossing of the Red SeaGiovani Battista Dalle Palle, 1560Tin-glazed earthenware29.8cm

During the sixteenth-century ceramic dishes were also decorated with finely detailed images made for wealthy Renassaince patrons to add to their collections of paintings and sculpture. Known as istoriato ware, the ceramics were decorated with a variety of classical, biblical and mythological subjects, often drawn from engravings of paintings and prints by masters such as Raphael and Albrecht Dürer. An example in The Courtauld collection is painted with an image depicting the Israelites crossing the Red Sea after a print by Hans Sebal Beham (image 3). It is also signed by its creator Giovanni Battista Delle Palle and dated 1560.

Gambier Parry’s collection includes a number of fine examples of Gothic ivory carvings - small devotional objects made in thirteenth and fourteenth-century England and France. These statues, diptychs and relief panels depict images of the Virgin and Child, Crucifixion scenes and a number of exquisitely carved narratives sequences that follow the Lives of Christ and the Virgin Mary. One fine example of this is the Life of Christ that decorates a small fourteenth-century French diptych (image 4). The narrative begins in the bottom left hand corner with the Annunciation, and ends in the top left hand corner with the Ascension. Here, all that is visible of the figure of Christ are His feet which peep out from under the lower part of his robe, beneath the tracery arches decorating the borders between each scene (image 5).

Alongside these three distinct groups of objects, Gambier Parry also collected a number of enamels, and many other pieces which interested him and caught his eye. Two fascinating objects that he acquired are a pair of miniature printed bibles from seventeenth-century Augsburg (image 6).

Gambier Parry was not just a rich and erudite Victorian collector of object d’art. The decorative arts that he concentrated on acquiring were purchased alongside a large collection of Trecento and Quattrocento Italian paintings, nearly all religious in their subject matter. The majority of these paintings and objects were displayed in the home that Gambier Parry bought at Highnam in Gloucestershire (images 7+8), and informed his study, his writing and his work as an artist and as a patron of ecclesiastical architecture.

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It is at Highnam that the impact of his art collecting can be seen most clearly, and the ways in which he merged the inspiration drew from his collections into art that reflected his artistic and theological views. In addition to remodelling of the manor house at Highnam in Gloucestershire, Gambier Parry commissioned a Gothic Revival church in the grounds of his estate, complete with parsonage and school. He dedicated the building to the Holy Innocents, in memory of his first wife, who had died in childbirth in 1848, and to three of their six children who had each died in infancy.

As well as being closely involved with the architect and the plans for the church, he designed altar-frontals embroidered by his sisters-in-law and painted the frescos that decorate the nave, even developing a new technique of painting onto dry plaster, to recreate the media of late Medieval Italy but one which could not easily be destroyed in a damp Gloucestershire climate (image 9). These vivid paintings not only reflect many of the decorative and stylistic features found in the large Trecento and Quattrocento paintings that Gambier Parry collected, but also illustrate the inspiration he took from the style of the smaller devotional objects he acquired. The paintings are filled with rich pinks and purples; angels with tooled golden haloes blow long, delicate trumpets; saints are seated in loggias formed of delicate columns framed by pointed pinnacles and gothic arches. These are features that appear in many of the Gambier Parry paintings that now hang in The Courtauld Gallery, such as Lorenzo Monaco’s Coronation of the Virgin (image 10) and Bernardo Daddi’s Crucifixion with Saints (image 11). Drawings that he prepared for the design of the Last Judgment in the nave also incorporate motifs and architectural details found in the much smaller Gothic ivories in his collection. In these paintings Gambier Parry combined and transported ideas he found in these much earlier religious and devotional images to create his own artistic forms and figures, alongside which he hung paintings and altarpieces that he had bought in Italy. ”

GAMBIER PARRY ALSO COLLECTED A NUMBER OF ENAMELS, AND MANY OTHER PIECES WHICH INTERESTED HIM AND CAUGHT HIS EYE. TWO FASCINATING OBJECTS THAT HE ACQUIRED ARE A PAIR OF MINIATURE PRINTED BIBLES FROM SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY AUGSBURG

Image 4 + image 5 (detail):Ivory diptych with scenes from the Life of ChristParis, 1350-75 Carved ivory with metal hinges and fastening19.7cm x 21.5cm

Image 6: German miniature picture Bibles (Dess Alten Testaments Mittler: Dess Neuen Testaments Mittler)Maria Magdalena Küsel c.1690Contemporary silver plaques and clasps on later (19th century?) leather binding5.7cm x 5cm

Image 7: Highnam Court in Gloucestershire

Image 8: Library (formerly Drawing Room) of Highnam Court, mid-20th century

Image 9: Interior of Holy Innocents, Highnam, with the Last Judgement mural over the chancel, painted by Gambier Parry, 1859-61

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CURRICULUM LINKS: KS3+Art and Design, History, Art History, and other Humanities

The paintings and decorative arts that Gambier Parry collected also influenced and informed his many writings on art. These lectures and articles culminated in a volume of essays he published towards the end of his life in the 1880s. Entitled The Ministry of Art to the Happiness of Life, the texts discuss colour, sculpture, ornament in architecture and the role of the Christian religion as the “great motive” for the development of the arts, applying a moral and spiritual core to artistic inspiration and skill. It is full of references and notes to the art and architecture that he had seen and acquired, and exhibits the astonishing depth of visual knowledge that he had gathered from a lifetime studying, collecting, and his own artistic practice.

Thomas Gambier Parry’s collections exhibit a great deal about his character and interests and provide a unique insight into influences on his artistic practice and how, as a collector and artist, he went about acquiring works for his own personal collections and displays. These works illustrate the variety of objects that he collected and how his eye was often caught by detail and craftsmanship across media, period and culture. One of the enduring qualities the we can see in the objects and paintings that formed Gambier Parry’s collection, is how, throughout the long lives of these works and art, the objects were repeatedly admired and collected for their eye-catching decoration and intricate patterns, as well as the artistic expertise and skill of the craftsmen that made them. This was as much the case of the different artists and cultures that created them, as it was of the nineteenth-century figure that brought them into the collection they form a part of today.

FURTHER READING: John Lowden, Medieval and Later Ivories in The Courtauld Collection (Including Alexandra Gerstein, “Thomas Gambier Parry: Collecting in the Gothic Revival”), (London: Paul Holberton Publishing, 2013)

Thomas Gambier Parry, The Ministry of Fine Art to the Happiness of Life

www.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/exhibitions/2012/illuminating-objects/

Image 10: Coronation of the VirginLorenzo Monaco, 1388-90Tempera on panel, integral frame with gabled top195 cm x 154.7 cm

Image 11: Crucifixion with SaintsBernardo Daddi, 1348Tempera on panel, integral frame gabled top155.8 cm x 52.4 cm

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”

THESE VIVID PAINTINGS NOT ONLY REFLECT MANY OF THE DECORATIVE AND STYLISTIC FEATURES FOUND IN THE LARGE TRECENTO AND QUATTROCENTO PAINTINGS THAT GAMBIER PARRY COLLECTED, BUT ALSO ILLUSTRATE THE INSPIRATION HE TOOK FROM THE STYLE OF THE SMALLER DEVOTIONAL OBJECTS HE ACQUIRED.

6: QALAM: The Art Of Calligraphy

Keramat Fathinia

There are two main reasons why Islamic calligraphy significantly developed from less elegant styles of writing into highly refined, geometrical forms; the first was due to the ban on figurative representation in Islamic world and the second as calligraphy was the medium for preservation of the Holy Text (Quran). In the first case, decorations and proportions influenced the writing, particularly in Kufic which was the very first style, to demonstrate superb beauty in the only permitted form of art. Similarly in the latter case, all efforts were put on calligraphic styles to make them well deserved of preserving the Word of God. Therefore, various scripts and subdivided angular and cursive styles emerged in the Islamic world, among which Kufic as the earliest known calligraphic style was the highest form of liturgic scrip.

The most common styles in modern day are Naskh and Thuluth (angular styles evolved mainly by Arabs), and Nasta‘liq, and Shikasteh-Nasta‘liq (cursive hanging styles developed in Persianate world). Although I started receiving my first calligraphy lessons in Nasta‘liq style at the age of 16, I also had the chance to experience other styles some years later after accomplishing an upper-intermediate level in Nasta‘liq. Yet, this style has remained as my main style over the last 18 years, and these unique abstract Nasta‘liq forms are still evocative and inspiring for me.

”

ACCORDING TO MIR-ALI, A DISTINGUISHED PERSIAN CALLIGRAPHER FROM THE 14TH CENTURY, THERE ARE FIVE ESSENTIAL FACTORS FOR BECOMING A CALLIGRAPHER. THESE ARE A FINE CHARACTER, A SOUND KNOWLEDGE OF CALLIGRAPHY, A GOOD HAND, PAIN TOLERANCE, AND THE NECESSARY INSTRUMENTS.

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TRAINING AS A CALLIGRAPHERThe training tradition involved in learning calligraphy has various stages. To proceed from the initial steps up to the advanced level take about four years for those who commit themselves to attending a class under a master’s guidance at least once a week. In the third year a second style needs to be learned. This is a prerequisite

for achieving upper-intermediate and advanced certificate. It is said that only ten out of every one hundred pupils go through the initial four years successfully and accomplish the distinguished (Mumtāz) certificate, whilst just one out of the remaining ten will finally surpass the advanced level into the mastery (Ustādī) level and become a master calligrapher.

MATERIALS AND TOOLSAmongst the material and tools used in traditional calligraphy the Qalam (reed pen) is perhaps the most important. It is made of bamboo and there are two types: Dizfooli (soft texture pen) and Kheyzaran (tough texture pen). A handmade penknife or cutter with steel blades and a bone or ivory handle is used for clipping and trimming the Qalam. The Qat‘zan (cutting rest plate) is used as a support for the bamboo whilst clipping the nib or slitting and making an incision in the middle of the ending part

Image 1: (previous page)Penbox, Penknife, Reed pens, and Qat‘zan

Image 2: (left)Keramat FathiniaChalīpa with illumination

Image 3: Keramat Fathinia Chalīpa without illumination

Image 4: Keramat Fathinia Katībeh

All images © the artist

CURRICULUM LINKS: KS3+Art and Design, History, Art History, and other Humanities

of the pen that distributes the ink to the writing surface. The Qat‘zan is made either completely of walnut, or of a thin bone or ivory attached to wood. A pen box contains the pens, tools and an inkwell and is usually decorated and covered by delicate miniatures or illuminations.

According to Mir-Ali, a distinguished Persian calligrapher from the 14th century, there are five essential factors for becoming a calligrapher. These are a fine character, a sound knowledge of calligraphy, a good hand, pain tolerance, and the necessary instruments. He believed that if any of these are missing, it would be almost impossible to practice calligraphy even if you attempt it for a hundred years. Any of these factors could be discussed at great length, but due to the space available here, I shall now focus on the last factor—the instruments of calligraphy.

THE PROCESS OF MAKING A CALLIGRAPHY PIECE:• The first step for making a calligraphy piece is to decide whether form or content is more important. If the content matters more, I probably use formats such as Katībeh (image 4), Chalipā (images 2 and 3), or a free format. Otherwise, if form is the focus, formats, such as Siāh-Mashq which is more independent and detached from meaning will be the right choice.

• The second step is deciding on the desired direction and the size of the work. If it is going to be a free format such as a piece of Katībeh, sometimes even a single verse or a short text could suffice, otherwise for other formats in calligraphy a minimum number of verses is needed. For example, for a Chalipā piece at least four verses are required.

• The calligrapher must decide on a composition, choose the right strokes and have an understanding of the spaces created in order to keep the balance and harmony of a piece (where every single part is in perfect poise with the whole composition). This is achieved by going through the initial draft and repeating it to the point that the ideal composition can be obtained. A perfect personal mood and concentration will significantly affect the final draft.

• When the final draft is done, the work is ready to be passed to illuminator to be dressed by illumination (image 2) before mounting and framing.

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The ink is found in two different forms, liquid and powder, for which there are different recipes. Soot is the main ingredient for black ink, though the most inks are brought ready-made these days. Even so, every calligrapher has his own way to make different colored tones out of the dry or liquid inks. The inkwell, inkstand, or Dawāt can be made out of different materials such as glass, plastic, metal, or ebony. Inkwells of any type should be wide enough in diameter and low in depth; Līqa (natural silk threads) are put in the Dawāt to prevent the ink from spilling out and more importantly for controlling the amount of ink taken by the calligrapher.

The paper is the last item to mention and based on the size of reed pen could be of different qualities and thickness. Before any changes are made to its surface the paper is normally gloss coated on both sides. At a later stage the surface will be specially treated with Āhār or wood adhesive for gaining the optimum result from a calligraphy standpoint. Along with starch and other ingredients the main ingredient of Āhār is egg white. Once applied to paper the Āhār will then be varnished by Muhra (a piece of marble-like stone) to create a shiny smooth even surface for easy gliding of the reed pen. Finally, the right practicing position is of great importance and one must be the right distance and angle towards to the writing surface.

”ALL EFFORTS WERE PUT ON CALLIGRAPHIC STYLES TO MAKE THEM WELL DESERVED OF PRESERVING THE WORD OF GOD

7: CROSSING CULTURES

Suggestions for Research and Practical Activities in The Gallery and Classroom

The Courtauld bag along with the other metalwork objects that form the focus of the essay ’Glittering Objects Exotic Luxury’ all originally belonged of the collection of Thomas Gambier Parry. Collecting art and objects is a practice that has spanned centuries. The Courtauld Gallery’s own collection could be described as a ‘collection of collections’. It is the result of a series of gifts and bequests by some of the leading collectors of the 19th and 20th centuries, including Count Antoine Seilern, Roger Fry, Gambier Parry and of course Samuel Courtauld. His founding vision and bequest established The Courtauld Institute of Art which first opened its doors in 1932 at his former residence Home House, where his private collection hung. The Gallery has benefited from a number of further additional gifts, creating a collection of great depth and quality which retains some of the character of its private origins.

The study of the history of collections and collecting plays an important role within art history. Private collections are not necessarily assembled on scholarly or museological principles and as such they can tell us about the different interest and tastes of the people who collected them, as well as the politics and social history of the time. Furthermore many artists, such as Gambier Parry and Paul Gauguin collected objects, artworks and curiosities (as do many contemporary artists) as part of their art practice, creative process and research.

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES1. Explore the gallery and identify two or more works that were part of the collections of either Samuel Courtauld, Count Antoine Seilern, Thomas Gambier Parry or Roger Fry. At the bottom of the label you will see the name of the donor. These can be paintings, sculpture, drawings, designs and the decorative arts. Compare the objects thinking about what might have interested the collector. What factors might have led to their purchase? Can you identify any patterns or common threads between them?

2. Auguste Renoir’s Portrait of Ambroise Vollard, 1908 depicts Parisian art dealer examining some of the objects in his collection. What do you think Renoir is trying to portray in the image about the sitter and his art collection? What does the painting tell us about Vollard?

Images can be found on the attached Image CD, or online at www.artandarchitecture.org.uk

See how young people have been inspired by this specific portrait:

www.courtauld.org.uk/storiesoftheworld/theexhibition/artists/bautista

www.courtauld.org.uk/storiesoftheworld/theexhibition/artists/williams

CURRICULUM LINKS: KS3+Art and Design, History, Art History, and other Humanities

PRACTICAL ACTIVITYThroughout history, artists have collected objects, artworks, images and text to inspire their work as well as to develop their skills by learning from other artists and crafts people. In the work of some contemporary artists such as Tony Cragg, Mark Dion or Christian Boltanski carefully selected and arranged collections of objects can become a work in their own right.

Develop your own, personal collection. Find, select and collect objects and imagery of your choice around a particular theme. The focus could be anything from something very specific such as a particular material (plastic, stone, paper or metal for example) through to a broader theme (such as identity, travel, pattern or architecture). Consider how you might display and interpret this collection into a work of art. Be creative in thinking about the various ways the objects could tell a story or be presented. You may wish to experiment with photography, film, drawing or even present them as an installation.

FURTHER READINGJohn House (ed.), Impressionism for England: Samuel Courtauld as Patron and Collector (London: Courtauld Gallery, 1994)

The Courtauld Gallery Masterpieces (London: Courtauld Gallery, 2007)

Image:Portrait of Ambroise VollardPierre Auguste Renoir, 1908Oil on canvas81.6 cm x 65.2 cm

8: GLOSSARY

ALTAR-FRONTAL: A textile that hangs in front of an altar in a church. They are often made from fine fabrics like velvet and or silk and covered in delicate embroidery.

BOOTY: Valuable stolen and looted goods, especially those seized in war or as part of a military or political victory. Booty implies items of luxury such as artworks, precious metal, or other valuables.

COURT / COURTLY / COURTIER: Historically, the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the ruler and his or her extended household. The persons in attendance at the court were called courtiers. All things pertaining to the court are termed ‘courtly’.

CURIOSITIES: Objects that were popularly collected for their value as curious, rare, or strange things.

DAWĀT: An inkwell or inkstand used for Islamic calligraphy. It can be made out of different materials such as glass, plastic, metal, or ebony but should be wide enough in diameter and low in depth.

DECORATIVE ART: This term is often used to describe the arts that are not painting and sculpture, and particularly describes objects that have a function but are produced to be admired rather than used.

DECREE: An official order or rule of law issued by the head of state that has the force of law.

DIPTYCH: A two-leaved, hinged tablet of metal, ivory or wood. In the Medieval period these could describe two panelled altarpieces of any size, but also small panels that opened up to reveal religious images for personal, private use.

DYNASTY: A sequence of rulers considered as members of the same family. A dynasty is also often called a ‘house’. The term ‘dynasty’ may also refer to the era during which a family reigned, as well as to events, trends, and artefacts of that period.

ECCLESIASTICAL: Relating to the Christian church, from the Latin word for church, Ecclesia.

ENGRAVING: A form of decoration achieved by impressing or drawing patterns into a surface. These formed decorative patterns on metalwork but later images could be engraved onto metal plates to create mass produced printed images or copies of paintings.

EWER: A form of jug or pitcher often with a large spout.

GENGHIS KHAN: Possibly born in 1162, Genghis Khan was the founder of the Mongol Empire. Having united the nomadic tribes of northeast Asia he began the Mongol Invasions that led to the Empire dominating most of Eurasia by the mid-thirteenth-century. He died in 1227.

GOTHIC: Describing all medieval art and architecture from the end of the Romanesque period (mid-12th c.) to the beginning of the Renaissance. Originally a term of derision coined by Renaissance architects who though of their predecessors as ‘Goths’ or barbarians.

GOTHIC REVIVAL: The reintroduction of a Gothic style of architecture towards the middle of the 19th century and championed by architectures such as A.W.N Pugin. The Gothic Revival style can also be used to describe houses, domestic furniture and fittings as well as textiles, and liturgical items for use in churches.

HANS SEBAL BEHAM: Beham (1500-1550) was a German printmaker and engraver and a prominent member of the generation of artists who followed Albrecht Dürer

HERALDIC SHIELD: A shield marked with heraldic symbols that refer to aristocratic families. Originally these would have been carried by knights as a form of protection in battle and in jousts, but later they were simply a decorative symbol of familial and dynastic identity.

HOLY INNOCENTS: This refers to the innocent boys under three years old that were murdered in Bethlehem by King Herod, hoping to kill the infant baby Jesus after His birth. The infant Jesus, the Virgin Mary and St Joseph had already fled to Egypt and so escaped what is called the Massacre of the Innocents.

ICONOGRAPHIC: Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and interpretation of the content of images. This includes the subjects depicted and their particular compositions. Iconography may also mean a particular depiction of a subject in terms of the content of the image, such as the figures, their placing, and their gestures.

IL-KHANATE: The Il-Khanate was a breakaway state from the Mongol Empire, established in the thirteenth century, and based primarily in Persia as well as neighbouring territories. It was ruled by different Mongol Houses (House of Hulagu, House of Ariq Böke, and House of Hasar), also called the Il-Khanids, and was in existence from 1256 until 1335.

INLAID METALWORK: Inlaying metalwork is a decorative technique used to adorn objects. The areas to be inlaid are recessed; then, sheet inlays of precious metal are inserted into the brass ground, secured by hammering the edges of the field down upon them. Inlaid metalwork relies on the contrasting tone and colour of the gold, silver and black inlays and the yellow brass body to achieve its striking visual effect.

INSCRIPTION: Written text that is used, in this case, to decorate metal objects. Inscriptions can be found on paintings, architecture, sculpture and all manner of other objects.

ISTORIATO WARE: This refers to a particular kind of maiolica decoration where the artist uses the ceramic like a canvas to create precise, detailed images using many different shades of glaze and complex perspective to create a painting like effect.

KORAN / QURAN: The holy book of Islam that was revealed the prophet Muhammad in the early seventh-century.

KUFIC: The oldest calligraphic form of the various Arabic scripts. Kufic developed around the end of the 7th century in Kufa, Iraq, from which it takes its name.

LEVANT: The area of land that stretches down the eastern cost of the Mediterranean, including the costal areas of Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Egypt.

LITURGICAL: Liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions.

MINT: to produce and circulate coins and currency.

MAHMUD AL-KURDI: The name of a metalworking master craftsman probably working in Cairo in the late 15th Century. A number of surviving pieces are signed with his name.

MAMLUK EGYPT: The Muslim dynasty that ruled Egypt from 1250 to 1517.

MAIOLICA: The technical term used to describe brightly coloured tin-glazed earthenware ceramics from Italy, primarily from the fifteenth and sixteenth-centuries.

MEDIEVAL: (also mediaeval) Relating to the period of roughly 1000 years between the fifth and fifteenth-centuries, and in terms of cultural production spanning the era between the classical civilisation of Greece and Rome and the advent of the Renaissance.

MONGOLS: The Mongols are Central and Northern Asian ethno-linguistic groups. For the period represented in the exhibition, ‘Mongol’ is an umbrella term for a large group of Mongolic tribes that expanded the Mongol Empire through invasions and conquests from the Central Asian steppes to as far as Central Europe. The Mongol Empire emerged under the leadership of Genghis Khan and existed during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

MOSUL: a city in northern Iraq, some 250 miles northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River. Mosul, famous for its Muslin, marble, and metalwork production, was under Umayyad, Abbassid, and Seljuq rule before it became part of the Mongol Empire in 1262. Due to its strategic location on trade routes to India, Persia, and the Mediterranean, it was an important trading centre during the Middle Ages.

MOTIF: A dominant or recurring idea or image, often forming a distinct element of a design.

MYTHOLOGICAL: Relating to, based on or appearing in myths, usually of ancient Greek or Roman origin. The term can be used to mean something that is made up or based on a story or the imagination as opposed to documented or based on fact.

NARRATIVE: a story, or an account of connected events, presented to the viewer in a sequence of images.

NOMADIC: a nomadic group is a community of people who move from one place to another, either with their livestock, or subsisting on hunting and gathering.

OUD: a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in Eastern music. Its construction is similar to that of the lute.

PARSONAGE: The church house provided for a parson, priest or vicar, often placed near or next to the church to which they are attached.

PATRON: A person who gives financial or other support to a person, organisation, cause, or activity. In art historical writing the term ‘patron’ is frequently used to describe the person who commissioned a specific work, or employed an artist on a regular basis.

PERSIA: This is a historical reference to the lands that now make up modern-day Iran.

PHILANTHROPIST: A benefactor of humankind; one who behaves benevolently towards others, particularly though the use of money, where they might found orphanages, hospitals etc for those less fortunate and in need of aid.

QALAM: a type of pen made from a dried reed, used for Islamic calligraphy.

QAT‘ZAN: A support (cutting rest plate) for bamboo whilst it is clipped and the nib is cut to form a Qalam (calligraphy pen).

QUATTROCENTO: The fifteenth-century in Italy, considered in terms of its art and architecture.

RENAISSANCE: From the French for ‘rebirth’, used to describe the revival of arts and learning under the influence of the rediscovery of classical art and culture from ancient Greece and Rome. Beginning in Italy around 1400, the equivalent developments in the Netherlands and the Holy Roman Empire are defined as the Northern Renaissance. ‘High’ Renaissance refers to the specific era spanning the lifetimes of the prominent Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo (c.1480 to c.1530).

RETINUE: individuals in the service and under the protection of a noble or royal person. This is a narrower definition of an entourage, which is a far less stable body of people that included not only professional courtiers, but also clerks, senior members of the aristocracy, and advisers, amongst others.

ROUNDEL: a circular disc.

SEAL: an emblem used for making an impression in wax, clay, paper, or some other medium, to authenticate a document.symbol

SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM: The original name of the Victoria & Albert Museum which was renamed in 1899.

SULTAN AL-MALIK AL-NASIR: the Mamluk sultan of Egypt who reigned three times between 1293 and 1341.

TRACERY ARCHES: In architecture, tracery is the stonework elements that support the glass in a Gothic window. The term probably derives from the ‘tracing floors’ on which the complex patterns of late Gothic windows were laid out. There are two main types, plate tracery and the later bar tracery.

TRECENTO: The fourteenth-century in Italy, considered in terms of its art and architecture.

VENETO-SARACENIC: Saracenic is an archaic term that was applied to the forms and features of Islamic art and architecture. Veneto-Saracenic refers to the style of objects that were thought to be created by Muslim craftsmen working in Venice in the fifteenth and sixteenth-centuries as well as work inspired by this style.

10: TEACHING RESOURCE IMAGE CD

This CD is a compilation of key images from The Courtauld Gallery’s collection related to the theme ‘Crossing Cultures’. The Power Point presentation included in the CD aims to contextualise the images and relate them to one another. All the images (and an accompanying image list) are also included individually in the ‘images’ folder.

FURTHER DETAILS: • All images can then be copied or downloaded:

• PC users: right-click on the image and select ‘Save Target As…’ Then choose the location to which you want to save the image.

• Mac users: control-click on the image and select ‘Save Image As…’ Then choose the location at which you want to save the image.

All images © The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London unless otherwise stated.

THE CONTENTS OF THIS CD ARE FOR EDUCATION PURPOSES ONLY: Please refer to the copyright statement for reproduction rights.

To download a pdf of this teachers resource please visit www.courtauld.ac.uk/ publicprogrammes/onlinelearning

IMAGE CD COPYRIGHT STATEMENT 1. The images contained on the TeachingResource CD are for educational purposesonly. They should never be used forcommercial or publishing purposes, besold or otherwise disposed of, reproducedor exhibited in any form or manner(including any exhibition by means ofa television broadcast or on the WorldWide Web [Internet]) without the expresspermission of the copyright holder,The Courtauld Gallery, London.

2. Images should not be manipulated, cropped or altered. 3. The copyright in all works of art usedin this resource remains vested with TheCourtauld Gallery, London. All rights andpermissions granted by The CourtauldGallery and The Courtauld Institute of Artare non-transferable to third parties unlesscontractually agreed beforehand.Please caption all our images with‘© The Courtauld Gallery, London’.

4. Staff and students are welcome todownload and print out images, in orderto illustrate research and coursework(such as essays and presentations).Digital images may be stored on academicintranet databases (private/internalcomputer system).

5. As a matter of courtesy, please alwayscontact relevant lenders/artists for imagesto be reproduced in the public domain.For a broader use of our images (internalshort run publications or brochures forexample), you will need to contactThe Courtauld Gallery for permission.

PLEASE CONTACT US AT: Courtauld Images, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN. images@courtauld.ac.uk, Tel: +44 (0)20 7848 2879.

TEACHERS’ RESOURCE CROSSING CULTURESTHE COURTAULD GALLERY First Edition

Teachers resources are free to teachers, lecturers and other education and learning professionals. To be used for education purposes only.

Any redistribution or reproduction of any materials herein is strictly prohibited.

Sarah GreenProgramme Manager – Gallery LearningCourtauld Institute of ArtSomerset House, StrandLONDON, WC2R 0RN

0207 848 2705sarah.green@courtauld.ac.uk

All details correct at time of going to press.