admin The first ever exhibition of Islamic art in the Courtauld Gallery is centred on a gorgeous metal inlaid handbag. There’s a life-size display recreating the lavish court scene on the inlaid decoration of the lid: an Il-Khanid court scene, with a richly dressed couple surrounded by a retinue of well-dressed attendants in feathered hats. There …
I’ve already included two postings about Attar’s ‘Conference of the Birds’ – one aiming you at the cutest cartoon film ever (please don’t miss it), and another about a very lovely image of hunting with cheetah from the manuscript that the British Library has just finished digitising. Now, here’s an image from the BL Mantiq …
I just got a Rapid Response e-published in the British Medical Journal – about air pollution in Iran and it’s health effects. Its at : http://www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g40/rr/685423 If you like it, please do click your ‘like’. The text is here below. It’s in response to a BMJ editorial about how bad air pollution is in China: …
Last week, IHF ran a great conference on the Natural Heritage of Iran. There were speeches and discussion on water, air, forests, wildlife and some fascinating presentations on community development. I thought the most interesting tension was between the demands for large-scale, coordinated national plans and programmes (a great idea, but … do they ever …
Jameel Prize 3 is lots more exciting, in my opinion, than Jameel 1 and 2 were. There’s some proper art. None of it’s Iranian – but there are two artists who are using Persian materials and techniques in some wonderful ways. Look at Faig Ahmed’s carpets. Do not adjust your monitor! I think they speak …
This week in the UK Stargazing Live is showing on BBC2. I’ve already posted here and here on the glorious beauty of stars and comets in Iran. But I thought it would be good to again highlight the long tradition of astronomy in Iran. Here is a Seljuk bowl, with a central Sun- symbol roundel …
There’s a solo exhibition on in Jerusalem, reflecting on, and challenging the collection of the L.A. Mayer Museum for Islamic art there. Sadly I can find out very few details about it – but I wanted to share two films with you. The first one has the venerable Professor Ettinghausen and two other art historians, …
Last week’s posting on Yalda reminded me of a recent Saudi Aramco article explaining how all the commercial pistachio trees in California derive from just one ‘mother tree’, brought from Kerman. By 2010 – following the American Embassy ‘hostage crisis’ of 1979, and the subsequent embargo on Iranian pistachios – production in California apparently outstripped …
Saturday night is Yalda: the longest night of the year. The forces of Ahriman are at their peak. From tomorrow, the Sun God starts to triumph – and we all start getting longer days. I’ve written about Yalda before – but this year, I wanted to focus on its very earliest origins. In Babylonian times, …
Professor Dick Davis spoke at SOAS recently – on the women in the Shahnameh. He’s counted fifty (that’s 50!) named women in the Shahnameh – as well as all the unnamed mothers, daughters and slavegirls. He specially noticed the huge differences between the women in the first and second halves of the book. In the …