Room 31 | Islamic Middle East gallery
Explore artefacts made over a period of more than 1000 years in the heart of the Islamic world.
How do we know whether what we are looking at is a genuine, historical work? Sometimes objects that look ‘real' may hide a secret.
Occasionally original objects and fragments have been modified to acquire more value - they have been faked. At a closer look, and after proper cleaning, ‘complete objects' can turn out to be puzzles of different fragments pasted together. Can you see any of these here?
Other objects have been forged - created from scratch, imitating original pieces. Sometimes this was done to deceive. Sometimes they were openly made as copies. However, if knowledge of their origin goes missing, they run the risk of being mistaken as originals. Like the ‘Iznik' dish (the first object shown here), which was made in Iran in the 1890s.
Dish with floral decoration (EA1978.1483)
Bowl with a man on horseback (EAX.3012)
Bowl with a pair of riders (EA1978.2254)
Dish with vegetal and calligraphic decoration (EA1956.167)
Dish with a rider (EA1978.2320)
Bowl with vegetal decoration (EA1993.3)
Bowl with animal decoration (EA1997.171)
Bowl with seated figure and phoenixes (EA1978.1646)
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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