Islamic Papyrus Manuscript with Kufic Inscription - PF.0353, Origin: Jericho, Circa: 600 AD to 800 AD, Catalogue: V1, Collection: Islamic Art, Style: Ancient Writing Medium:  More »

Islamic Papyrus Manuscript with Kufic Inscription - PF.0353, Origin: Jericho, Circa: 600 AD to 800 AD, Catalogue: V1, Collection: Islamic Art, Style: Ancient Writing Medium: Ink on Papyrus, Throughout history, mankind has committed its greatest thoughts to writing. The power of the written word is vast: it allows ideas, emotions, even passions, to transcend time, to pass unaltered from one person to another, from one generation to the next. Human society itself is erected on a solid foundation of documents: edicts, declarations, holy books. This rare manuscript dates from the early flowering of Islam, a religion which, from its beginning, has been guided by the written word. The reed paper, papyrus, was made for thousands of years in Egypt, a land incorporated early into the Islamic empire. To hold this manuscript today, to decipher its message, is to communicate directly with a vanished world.   « Less

A lamp such as this might have lit homes during the life of Christ. A metaphor of joy and prosperity, for hope, for life itself, lamps have illuminated the path of  More »

A lamp such as this might have lit homes during the life of Christ. A metaphor of joy and prosperity, for hope, for life itself, lamps have illuminated the path of civilization for centuries. They have guided great thoughts through the night, stood vigil with lonely passions. In the presence of this simple object, we are in touch directly with a vanished world, with the people once warmed by its glow. Today it remains as an enduring symbol of man's desire to conquer the darkness. - (L.0135)   « Less

A lamp such as this might have lit homes during the life of Christ. A metaphor of joy and prosperity, for hope, for life itself, lamps have illuminated the path of  More »

A lamp such as this might have lit homes during the life of Christ. A metaphor of joy and prosperity, for hope, for life itself, lamps have illuminated the path of civilization for centuries. They have guided great thoughts through the night, stood vigil with lonely passions. In the presence of this simple object, we are in touch directly with a vanished world, with the people once warmed by its glow. Today it remains as an enduring symbol of man's desire to conquer the darkness. - (L.0138)   « Less

A lamp such as this might have lit homes during the life of Christ. A metaphor of joy and prosperity, for hope, for life itself, lamps have illuminated the path of  More »

A lamp such as this might have lit homes during the life of Christ. A metaphor of joy and prosperity, for hope, for life itself, lamps have illuminated the path of civilization for centuries. They have guided great thoughts through the night, stood vigil with lonely passions. In the presence of this simple object, we are in touch directly with a vanished world, with the people once warmed by its glow. Today it remains as an enduring symbol of man's desire to conquer the darkness. - (L.0226)   « Less

A token of a faith already old when this lamp was created, such an object might have lit Jewish homes or temples centuries ago. A metaphor for joy and prosperity, for hope,  More »

A token of a faith already old when this lamp was created, such an object might have lit Jewish homes or temples centuries ago. A metaphor for joy and prosperity, for hope, for life itself, lamps have illumninated the path of civilization for centuries. They have guided great thoughts through the night, stood vigil with lonely passions. In the presence of this simple object, we are in touch directly with a vanished world, with the people once warmed by its glow. Today it remains as an enduring symbol of man's desire to conquer the darkness. - (L.0804)   « Less

A lamp such as this might have lit homes during the life of Christ. A metaphor for joy and prosperity, for hope, for life itself, lamps have illumninated the path of  More »

A lamp such as this might have lit homes during the life of Christ. A metaphor for joy and prosperity, for hope, for life itself, lamps have illumninated the path of civilization for centuries. They have guided great thoughts through the night, stood vigil with lonely passions. In the presence of this simple object, we are in touch directly with a vanished world, with the people once warmed by its glow. Today it remains as an enduring symbol of man's desire to conquer the darkness. - (L.0892)   « Less

A lamp such as this might have lit homes during the life of Christ. A metaphor of joy and prosperity, for hope, for life itself, lamps have illuminated the path of  More »

A lamp such as this might have lit homes during the life of Christ. A metaphor of joy and prosperity, for hope, for life itself, lamps have illuminated the path of civilization for centuries. They have guided great thoughts through the night, stood vigil with lonely passions. In the presence of this simple object, we are in touch directly with a vanished world, with the people once warmed by its glow. Today it remains as an enduring symbol of man's desire to conquer the darkness. - (L.1925)   « Less

A lamp such as this might have lit homes during the life of Christ. A metaphor of joy and prosperity, for hope, for life itself, lamps have illuminated the path of  More »

A lamp such as this might have lit homes during the life of Christ. A metaphor of joy and prosperity, for hope, for life itself, lamps have illuminated the path of civilization for centuries. They have guided great thoughts through the night, stood vigil with lonely passions. In the presence of this simple object, we are in touch directly with a vanished world, with the people once warmed by its glow. Today it remains as an enduring symbol of man's desire to conquer the darkness. - (L.1939)   « Less

Qur'an Leaf in Kufic Script - PF.6323, Origin: Iraq or North Africa, Circa: 700 AD to 900 AD, Collection: Islamic Art, Style: Ancient Writing, Medium: Ink on, Parchment,  More »

Qur'an Leaf in Kufic Script - PF.6323, Origin: Iraq or North Africa, Circa: 700 AD to 900 AD, Collection: Islamic Art, Style: Ancient Writing, Medium: Ink on, Parchment, Calligraphy has never been challenged as the supreme art of the Islamic world, reflecting the centrality of the Qur’anic revelation to Islamic faith and culture. In Islam, the Qur’an is held to be God’s actual revelation. The establishment of the “Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258), with its capital in Baghdad, marked a new stage in the cultural and economic integration of the Mediterranean and Asia. Among the new cultural forms that emerged in the cosmopolitan early ‘Abbasid period were illuminated Qur’ans in horizontal format, written in angular scripts frequently called “Kufic”, after the city of Kufa in Iraq; where the style is said to have originated. The crisp elegance of many of these scripts and the luxurious sophistication of illumination in the first centuries of the ‘Abbasid period have contributed to the notion that this was a “classical” age in the Qur’an production. The diffusion of Kufic styles throughout the Near East and the Mediterranean is visual testimony to the Dynasty, which stretched at its height from the Atlantic to the borders of China.   « Less

A lamp such as this might have lit homes during the life of Christ. A metaphor of joy and prosperity, for hope, for life itself, lamps have illuminated the path of  More »

A lamp such as this might have lit homes during the life of Christ. A metaphor of joy and prosperity, for hope, for life itself, lamps have illuminated the path of civilization for centuries. They have guided great thoughts through the night, stood vigil with lonely passions. In the presence of this simple object, we are in touch directly with a vanished world, with the people once warmed by its glow. Today it remains as an enduring symbol of man's desire to conquer the darkness.A lamp such as this might have lit homes during the life of Christ. A metaphor of joy and prosperity, for hope, for life itself, lamps have illuminated the path of civilization for centuries. They have guided great thoughts through the night, stood vigil with lonely passions. In the presence of this simple object, we are in touch directly with a vanished world, with the people once warmed by its glow. Today it remains as an enduring symbol of man's desire to conquer the darkness. - (L.1945)   « Less