Description
Book SynopsisCarole and Robert Hillenbrand are acclaimed academics who have made immense contributions to the fields of Islamic history and art history. The respect and affection of the academic community towards them is legendary. For these two volumes, editors Ali Ansari and Melanie Gibson have gathered a wide-ranging selection of scholarly essays by some of their longstanding colleagues as well as by recent students who now occupy academic positions across the world. The volume dedicated to Robert Hillenbrand includes thirteen articles on subjects which include studies on a rare 8th-century metal dish with Nilotic scenes, Chinese Qur’ans, the process of image making in both theory and practice, and a shrine in Mosul destroyed by ISIS.
Trade ReviewIn its thematic breadth, intellectual depth, and innovative thinking Fruit of Knowledge, Wheel of Learning is indeed a befitting academic tribute to honour one of the giants in the field of Islamic art today. At the same time, it speaks of Robert's outstanding calibre as a teacher and mentor, fostering the next generation of scholarly thought leaders at the top of their game. Ulrike Al-Khamis, Director and Chief Executive Officer, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto; This beautifully produced volume ranges in time from early Islam to early modernity, in geography from Anatolia to China, and in medium from architecture to the portable arts, painting and paper. The extraordinary range of the contributors' essays offers a fitting tribute to the inspiring and pioneering scholarship of a towering figure in the history of Islamic art and architecture. Finbarr Barry Flood, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of the Humanities, New York University; Fruit of Knowledge, Wheel of Learning contains a series of essays as engaging and diverse in their interests and subject matters as the man they celebrate. As many of the contributors are Robert Hillenbrand's former students, they also testify to his abilities as a learned and inspiring teacher. Scott Redford, Nasser D Khalili Professor of Islamic Art and Archaeology, SOAS, University of London
Table of ContentsCONTENTS
Foreword 6
Melanie Gibson and Ali Ansari
Robert Hillenbrand: An Appreciation 8
Melanie Gibson
Robert Hillenbrand: Publications 10
A Builder of Mosques: The Projects of al-Walid I, from Sanaa to Homs 16
Alain George
Back to Tulul al-Ukhaydir 50
Barbara Finster
Twin Minarets in the Architecture of Iran 64
Lorenz Korn
Memorial for a Memorial: The Mashhad of Imam ?Awn al-Din and the Destruction of Medieval Monuments in Mosul by ISIS 78
Richard P. McClary
David Talbot Rice and Persian Art History 92
Yuka Kadoi
Beyond the Beholder’s Share: Painting as Process 100
Marga ret S. Graves
Blurred Boundaries: Interactions Between Royal Ateliers and Commercial Workshops in the Persianate World 132
Udayan Da niel Ghose
Some New Uses of the Geniza: Mercantile Letter—On the Materiality of Writing in the Indian Ocean World 158
Elizabeth La mbourn
Beyond the Taklamakan: The Origins and Stylistic Development of Qur?an Manuscripts in China 180
Marcus Fraser
Syrian Nilotics and the History of Silver Inlay in the Near East 200
James Allan
An Ayyubid-era Figural Ivory: A Sculptural Miniature 222
Julian Raby
‘Healing for what is in the Breasts’: Ceramic Breastfeeding Figures from the Medieval Islamic World 240
Melanie Gibson
Chinese Porcelains from the Ardabil Shrine: Collecting and Display in Iran 268
Linda Komaroff
Author Biographies 286
