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Tareq Rajab Museum, Kuwait
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The Islamic Influence
on Zsolnay
By
Denise Rajab
This book soon to be published “The
Islamic Influence of Zsolnay” is a direct result of a research into Islamic
art and its influence it had with the Zsolnay factory.
Vilmos Zsolnay was a clever man;
together with his immediate family he turned a run down workshop into one of
Hungary’s prize processions.
This book is just a starter into the
Islamic influence of Zsolnay and some of the ceramics that the Zsolnay
factory produced. The private Zsolnay collection of Denise Rajab has
concentrated on pieces with an “Islamic influence” and how they show
an undoubted resemblance compared with ceramics, metalwork and carvings from
the Tareq Rajab Museum Kuwait.
This book is the first in a series
of small publications on the Zsolnay factory the next being “The Victorian
Era of Zsolnay”.
The Door Of Sultan Barquq In Kuwait
By
Geza Fehervari
And additional
research by
Iman R. Abdul
Fattah
The large, richly decorated metal
door in the Tareq Rajab Museum in Kuwait exhibits a historical inscription
giving the name and titles of Mamluk Sultan Barquq, the founder of the line
of the Burji Mamluks, and the date of completion as Fabi’ ul-Awwal, 788AH/AD
April, 1386. In spite of this inscription some scholars claimed, that the
door was made by an Egyptian metalworker towards the end of the 19th
century. Decorative details, but more importantly, the chemical analyses
which were carried out at the Oxford Archaeological Research Laboratory,
contradict this suggested late dating. The author carried out extensive
research over several years and visited Cairo, Beirut and Budapest at number
of occasions. The results of these investigations and the final conclusions
are presented in this splendidly illustrated monograph.
 Magic
and Popular Piety from the Islamic World in the Tareq Rajab Museum By
Dr Alexander Fodor
The
Tareq Rajab Museum in Kuwait possesses
a large collection of objects which are related to
magic and popular piety. These objects come from the whole Islamic world
and China, while in time they range from the early Islamic Centuries until
the present. The selected material includes ceramics, metalwork, Seals,
manuscripts, scrolls, textiles, wood and ivory, as represented by amulets,
Talismans, magical bowls, rings, magical books, pictures, talismanic
shirts, a Talismanic chart, dervish's accoutrement, etc. Among pieces of
special interest are Rock crystal talismans, an early cylindrical amulet
holder in gold, amulets and a Magical bowl from the 13th and 1 4th
centuries, jade talismanic seals, a talismanic Shirt, a Sufi
master's manuscript in circular leather binding with representations
of the universe and amuletic diagrams, and a
talismanic chart made for Muzaffar AL
Din Shah can be mentioned.
Apart
from giving a description of the objects, the book surveys them in a
historical perspective, trying to indicate the changes that have taken
place in the field of magic and popular piety through the ages. Certain
groups of the objects, like early rock crystal seals, which were used in
invocations for water, magical books, the talismanic chart, amulets on
paper, will be given separate studies. Chapters of a more general
character on the Islamic view of magic, the origins of magic in the
Islamic world, Sufism and magic will complete the book.
THE
ART OF THE QUR’AN
Manuscripts of the Qur’an in the Tareq Rajab Museum, Kuwait
By Marcus Fraser
The Tareq Rajab Museum contains a rich and varied collection of Qur’an
leaves and manuscripts dating from the 1st century Hijra to the present
day.
This book presents a detailed catalogue of the collection while
surveying the development of Qur’anic scripts and decoration over the
last 1300 years and across the whole breadth of the Islamic world, from
Southern Spain to China and South East Asia.
With well over one hundred leaves and manuscripts illustrated, all in
colour, with numerous details and close-ups of illumination, and a careful
analysis of the stylistic aspects of the Qur’ans, the “Art of the Qur’an”
promises to be not only a rich and lavish publication, but also a useful
scholarly survey of an important group of previously unpublished material.
Marcus Fraser graduated in 1990 from Edinburgh University with an MA (Hons.)
in Arabic and Islamic Art, and is now director of Islamic and Indian Art
at Sotheby’s, London.
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