4072 Islamic Archaeology and Art History Islamic Archaeology and Art History Leslee Katrina Michelsen Curatorial Department, Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar Introduction The discipline of Islamic art history is connected inextricably with that of archaeology, for reasons of both history and philosophy. Each field of study examines the material culture ofthe Islamic world and utilizes many of the same sources, particularly in the premodern period, The principal methodologies of the ficlds iffer in their approaches to the objects, with archacology — in principle — privileging all materials equally and being concerned primarily with the relationships between and among excavated objects, while art history has an over- riding interest in the objects themselves, Yet although at history is primarily concerned with form and content, it is certainly and deeply informed by context. The increasing emphasis in the discipline on visual culture has resulted in greater attention to, and emphasis on, the cultural tilieux in which the objects were produced, Key Issues ‘The nature of Islamic art history is connected intimately with the physical situations of avail- able objects. The relative lack of grave goods in Islamic burials, combined with the deposition of “masterpieces” in numerous shrines and treasur- ies, provided a wealth of extant, unburied arti facts that in many cases became the original ‘materials for Islamic art history in its infancy as discipline, Some of the most celebrated exam- ples of such objects include the Shroud of Saint Josse (Fig. 1) and the Pisa Griffin (Fig, 2) both of which have been in European hands since the medieval era and the subjects of myriad studies, (On the other hand, the widespread practice of the commercial excavation of Islamic sites, as ‘well as academic investigations, provided a sup- ply of material culture for museums and univer- sities that formed the basis of numerous canonical collections. (Regrettably, this also included wide- scale looting of sites and trafficking in illicit antiquities ~ practices that are, shamefully, ongo- ing today). Certainly the plethora of portable arts — ceramics, stucco, metalwork, ete. — found in archaeological contexts informed their increasing {inclusion into the field of Islamic art history and even their “legitimization” as objects of serious study. A series of catalogues devoted to exhaus: tive collections ~ private or public - of specific ‘media have been very commonly cited and useful reference works in the field Ettinghausen 1962; Baer 1983; Grube 1994). ‘The practice of “collecting history” of the Islamic world reached a climax in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, when a combination of factors — including a number of excavations of Islamic sites — provided a wealth ‘of materials for the archaeologist and the art historian. In many ways the studies of this period ‘were quite similar across the two disciplines, with scholars in both fields devoting more attention to the more aesthetically pleasing objects for purposes of initial collection as well as later study and display. One such example is the Metropolitan Museum of Ant’s excavations at \Nishapur in the 1930s and 1940s, in which the oft-cited, and indisputably useful, tome on. pottery nonetheless represents only a small portion of the ceramics at the site (Wilkinson 1073). The “best” of these were selected for ini- tial collection, as well as later publication, study and exhibition (Fig. 3). Certainly pottery, perhaps more than any other ‘medium, has benefited from its common and ‘widespread availability in archaeological setings as well as its treatment in art-historical studies. Forms and fabrics have long been included as part of standard descriptions of ceramics in art-historical texts, and collaborations between and among colleagues in art history and archaeology have resulted in intriguing new observations on both forms and functions (Golombek et al. 1996).4074 Islamic Archaeology and Art History Islamic Archaeology and Art History, Fig. 4 Qusayr‘Ame, cighth century CE, Jordan (UNESCO World Heritage Cenze) ‘This closely knitted history between Islamic archaeology and art history has resulted in a great privileging of the early centuries of Islamic art, as Grabar noted in his observations fon the field: “The concentration of scholarly cffort on the carly centuries of Islam, with its ‘concomitant emphasis on the Arab world, reflects in part the earlier concern of scholarship with unraveling and explaining the beginnings of Islamic culture and in part the influence of archaeology, a technique far more at ease with, ‘early monuments than with recent ones” (Grabar 1983: 7). Current emphasis is redressing this imbalance, with attempts to pay greater attention to later centuries and less-studied sites and their ‘material culture (Vernoit 2000; Komaroff 2000), Current Debates Islamic art history has been concemed with the cultural setting surrounding and necessitating the production of visual culture for many years In the 1950s the eminent Islamic art historian Richard Ettinghausen reminded his colleagues that: “We have to study the monument’s function, ‘or the object’s use, the conditions of life, work and trade under which it was made, and all the associations that helped to create the work, whether they were derived from religious, magical, astrological, literary or folkloristic concepts” (Ettinghausen 1951) ‘This is perhaps too little known outside the field of art history, with frequent assumptions that there is an over-reliance on aesthetics and connoisscurship at the heart of the discipline. Yet visual culture certainly has a materiality to it, recognized in the study and practice of art history and with a meaning both in and across time, Therefore a shift to the examination of ‘material culture in art history — with visual culture as one part of a greater cultural world prioritizes the place of art, but definitively within its cultural setting. Additionally, certain characteristics of Islamic society ~ including the collecting of calligraphy, the commissioning of fine buildings that are palpably different from mere shelters, or championing a series of objects made in precious substances or imitating those substances ~ are clearly art-historical aspects of material culture, at least in part, and therefore bear examining, under that lens. Future Directions Both formalism and contextualism have signifi- cant roles to play in art history, and in the field of Islamic art history, this has great importance forIslamic Industry, Archaeology of 4075 the role that museums, in particular, play in presenting and interpreting the material and visual cultural of the Islamic world to the public. The term “Islamic” can be problematic, encompassing as it docs a wide range of explicitly secular works produced by and for 1 variety of peoples of disparate faiths (Grabar 1973), One very recent development is the decision by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to reject the designation of “Islamic Ar” for its renovated galleries in favor of geographic designations. In recent years a number of significant collections of Islamic art have been inaugurated or reorganized, reopening the questions surrounding the choices made in collecting and displaying Islamic art, These are even more ‘charged in the current political climate, creating a greater role but also much greater responsibil- ity, for the Islamic art historian, ‘Additionally, the expansion of Islamic art history to incorporate lesser-studied elements of the Islamic world - whether by media, temporal- ity, or geographic location — has led, rather unsur- prisingly, to a greater specialization among Islamic art historians. In the course of one or two generations of scholars, an “inclusive” expert fn topics as wide-ranging as Nasrid ceramics to contemporary Turkish architecture has been steadily replaced, for reasons of the rapidly grow- ing depth and breadth of the field, by scholars increasingly focused on a narrower range of media, times, and places Ittherefore seems logical that at some point in the near future, the overemphasis on the early centuries of Islam, and its heavy reliance on archacology, may be lessened or even super- seded. While unfortunate, it would also point 10 the great strength of the partnership between, Islamic archacology and art history that created the foundations for such exponential growth and development Cross-References > Buildings Archaeology > Ceramics: Scientific Analysis > Ethics of Collecting Cultural Heritage > Iran: Islamic Archaeology > Iraq: Archaeological Heritage > Islamic Archacology > Regional/Site Museums > Spain and North Africa: Islamic Archaeology > UNESCO (1970) and UNIDROIT (1995) Conventions References Bara, E, 1983. Metalwork in medieval Islamic art. ‘Albany: Sate University of New York Press Bresyouatsts, R. 1951, Islamic a and archeology, in "T. Cuyler Young (ed) Near Eastern cultre and society, 17-47, Princeton: Princeton University Press = 1962. Arab painting. Geneva: Skira Press. Fowoes, G. 2004, Qusayr ‘Amma Art and the Umayyad lite in late antique Syria, Berkeley: University of California Press Gocosmex, L, RB. Masoy & GA. Bauey. 1996. TTamerlane's tableware: a new approach tothe Chi noisere ceramics of ffteenth- and stxeenth-century Iran. Costa Mesa (CA): Mazda Press. Grauan, 0. 1973. The formation of Islamic art ‘New Haven: Yale Univesity Press = 1983, Reflections onthe study of Islamic ar. Mugarnas IL. GGwuns, E1994, Cobalt and lustre: the fist centuries of Islamic pottery. London: Oxford University Press. Kouazor L. 2000, Exhibiting the Middle East: collections and perceptions of Islamic at. Ars Oriemalis 0: 1-8, ‘Vessont, $. 2000, Discovering Islamic art: scholars, eo Tectors and collections, 1850-1950, London: 1B. Taurus Wirxnson,C. 1973. Nishapur: pottery af the early Islamic period. New York: Metropolitan Museum of At Islamic Industry, Archaeology of Rebecea Bridgman Islamic and South Asian Art, Birmingham ‘Museums Trust, Birmingham, UK Introduction Industry in the medieval and post-medieval Islamic world was most commonly associated ‘with urban environments, where it was predomi- nantly organized and specialized in nature.