Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Room 31 | Islamic Middle East gallery

Explore artefacts made over a period of more than 1000 years in the heart of the Islamic world.

Islamic Middle East gallery

Useful art

Many of the objects that we collect in museums are ordinary things that would have been a part of people's everyday lives in the past. This does not mean they had to be plain. Some of them were so elegantly decorated that we consider them to be ‘works of art.'

However, they were created for a purpose. Can you guess what they were used for? How they were made? Can you imagine who might have owned these?

Candlestick with candleholder in the form of a tulip (EA1990.1246) Candlestick with candleholder in the form of a tulip (EA1990.1246)   Hanging lamp (EA1972.5) Hanging lamp (EA1972.5)   Oil lamp with dome-shaped lid surmounted by a bird (EA1983.27) Oil lamp with dome-shaped lid surmounted by a bird (EA1983.27)
Marvered glass bowl (EA1975.18) Marvered glass bowl (EA1975.18)   Glass bottle with melon-shaped body and tubular neck (EA1990.1259) Glass bottle with melon-shaped body and tubular neck (EA1990.1259)   Glass bottle with globular body and tubular neck (EA1990.1260) Glass bottle with globular body and tubular neck (EA1990.1260)
Breastplate from a body armour (EA1997.176.a) Breastplate from a body armour (EA1997.176.a)   Kard, or dagger, with an agate hilt (EA1998.36) Kard, or dagger, with an agate hilt (EA1998.36)   Kard, or dagger, inscribed with Qur’anic verses (EA2004.18) Kard, or dagger, inscribed with Qur’anic verses (EA2004.18)   Bucket inscribed with good wishes and zodiacal signs (EA1969.8) Bucket inscribed with good wishes and zodiacal signs (EA1969.8)
Notice

Objects may have since been removed or replaced from a gallery. Click into an individual object record to confirm whether or not an object is currently on display. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis, so contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular Eastern Art object.

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