Luster and Luxe from Islamic Spain

curated by Dr. Filiz Çakır Phillip

Luster and Luxe from Islamic Spain. Liquid Frontiers and Entangled Worlds brings together carefully selected artworks, vivid carpets, colourful textiles and lustrous ceramics dated between the 10th and 16th centuries, to shed lights on the vivacious, intercultural relationship between Spain and the Islamic world of their time. The exhibition tells the spellbinding stories of Jewish, Christian and Muslim artisan communities, merchants and patrons of a hybrid culture through 700 years on the occidental frontier of Islam, the Iberian Peninsula. The presented artworks are witnesses of the interconnectedness of the Mediterranean trade that, through the Islamic world, was linked to Central Asia and China. This trade facilitated and drove cultural exchanges of technology, art and ideas. The hybridizations which arose from these diverse encounters are original and ingenious, and invite art lovers on an individual and immersive journey of exploration. Luster and Luxe from Islamic Spain offers a unique opportunity to experience highlights on show for the first time, among them a carpet fragment from Madrid that was recently restored in Milan. The exhibition additionally engages in a stimulating dialogue with MAO’s permanent collections.

Drawing from the collections of the Bruschettini Foundation for Islamic and Asian Art in Genoa, Palazzo Madama in Turin, the Moshe Tabibnia Gallery in Milan, and the Instituto Valencia de Don Juan in Madrid, Luster and Luxe from Islamic Spain. Liquid Frontiers and Entangled Worlds kicks off Museo d’Arte Orientale’s national and international collaboration projects for 2023-24.