Aga Khan Trust for Culture

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The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, which is dedicated to presenting an overview of the artistic, intellectual and scientific contributions that Muslim civilisations have made to world heritage, will open its doors to the public on 18 September.

The entrance to the Aga Khan Museum as seen across on of the reflecting pools that form the shape of a traditional char-bagh, or four-part, garden.

The Aga Khan Museum, which was designed by Fumihiko Maki, features a courtyard through which sunlight and moonlight filters through machrabiya patterns etched in the glass.

The Aga Khan Museum’s permanent collection has over 1,000 artifacts.

The Museum collection contains some of the greatest artistic achievements of Islamic civilisations.

The Museum&#39;s remarkable architecture complements the permanent collection that it houses.

Ivory horn (oliphant) : This rare carved ivory tusk is an exceptional example of the dissemination and exchange of visual culture across the eastern Mediterranean among the Fatimids (909–1171), the Byzantine Empire, and the Italian city-states. One of a few examples surviving in major museum collections, it was carved in Sicily or southern Italy, with images derived from Fatimid court culture. The tusk is decorated with a hunting scene comprising real and mythical animals running in file across its length. The exquisite carved decoration on the horn, and the English silver mounts that were added in the seventeenth century, suggest that it may have served a ceremonial role. Its original function is understood by some as a hunting horn and by others as a wine horn.

Ablution basin : The multiple examples of sixteenth-century Chinese porcelain with Arabic inscriptions are testimony to the prominence at court of the Muslim community in China during that period, as well as the close and continuous contact between China and the Muslim world. This large dish was made in the porcelain kilns of the province of Jingdezhen in China for a Muslim patron, most probably a member of the close circle of Emperor Zhengde (reigned 1505–21) whose reign mark can be seen on the back of the dish. The word taharat (“purity”) is inscribed in Arabic in the central medallion of the dish, implying that it was meant for use in ablution, a basic requirement of Muslim prayer. The Chinese-style floral meander on the rim and its back frames several inscriptions that further evoke the concept of ritual purity and specifically mention ablution (al-wudu’).

Dish : During the first half of the sixteenth century, artists of the royal design atelier of the Ottoman court developed a new decorative style characterized by bright colours and naturalistic depictions of flowers. The floral composition on this dish with its tulips, carnations, and roses in red and blue on a white background is typical of the production of the Ottoman imperial kilns in the city of Iznik. Similar patterns of floral designs were used on textiles, carpets, book illuminations, and tiles, including some splendid examples in the Aga Khan Museum’s collection. The consistency of the Ottoman floral style helped establish a distinctive and singular visual brand for the Ottoman Empire (1299–1923) and its arts. It is during this period that tulips caught Europe’s attention when they were first introduced there by Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, the Austrian ambassador to the Ottoman court.

Shell with inscriptions : This palm-size, perfectly shaped mother-of-pearl shell has both an elegant design and an intriguing function. Its luminous surface is engraved with eight concentric rings containing verses from the Qur’an and religious invocations. The variety of the calligraphic styles and their layout make the design both dynamic and quite dignified. Although the intensity of the decorative programme on the shell and the attention given to the minutest detail are unique, the shell may have been designed for a specific purpose that demonstrates how Muslims evoked the Qur’an in their everyday life. The concave shape of the shell and some of its decorative motifs suggest that it may have been used as a drinking vessel. In line with the belief in the protective and therapeutic power of the Qur’an, some Muslims drank water that came into direct contact with Qur’anic verses in order to obtain blessings and protection.

Capital : This capital, with two lines of acanthus leaves, represents a brilliant phase of architectural sculpture in Arab Spain. The model of the Corinthian capital, which can be found in numerous Roman ruins in Spain, as well as in later Visigothic interpretations, reaches here a very refined elegance. The general structure of Corinthian capitals is respected, rendered livelier by two rows of deeply carved foliage sprouting in a bee’s nest arrangement and a base of plain stalks where the second row of leaves starts. This capital is similar to the ones made for the reception room of ‘Abd al-Rahman III in the royal palace at Madinat al-Zahra, near Cordoba, which date from between 952–53 and 956–57, according to inscriptions found on the bases.

Planispheric Astrolabe : In the Iberian peninsula of the fourteenth century, Muslim scientists worked together with Christian and Jewish counterparts to translate and transmit scientific knowledge to Europe. This astrolabe may have been made in Toledo, Spain, then a major centre of scientific translation. The inscriptions on the astrolabe bear the names of constellations in both Arabic and Latin, with additional inscriptions in Arabic. Later, Hebrew was added to one of the plates. The plates inside the astrolabe include projections for different geographical latitudes and represent different phases of use, confirming that the practical life of this astrolabe extended beyond the place and time of its initial manufacture. One of the functions of the astrolabe in Muslim civilisations was to determine the direction toward Mecca (the qibla) and to establish the times of prayer.

The Court of Keyomars : Described in the sixteenth century as a masterpiece and acknowledged to this day as one of the most important works of Iranian painting, The Court of Keyomars is from one of the greatest manuscripts of all time, the Shah-Nameh (Book of Kings), which was produced for the Safavid ruler of Iran, Shah Tahmasp I. The manuscript took twenty years or more to complete. Almost all the major Iranian artists from the first half of the sixteenth century were involved in this monumental project. Its 258 paintings are considered the zenith of the art of Iranian art.

Qanun : The Museum’s Permanent Collection includes one of the oldest surviving copies of volume five of the Qanun <a href="Canon%20%5Bof%20Medicine%5D">fi’l-tibb</a>, which was compiled by the Iranian scholar Ibn Sina or Avicenna (died 1037). Ibn Sina wrote a five-volume encyclopaedia that brought together medical knowledge from the Muslim, Greco-Roman, and Chinese worlds, including insights from Aristotle (died 322 BCE) and Galen (died circa 216 CE). Avicenna’s Qanun was translated into Latin in Toledo, Spain, in the thirteenth century. It then became the most influential medical encyclopaedia in Europe, where it was taught in universities well into the eighteenth century. The Aga Khan Museum’s collection also contains volume four of this rare copy of the encyclopaedia.

Rostam pursues Akvan The Onager-Div : This magnificent painted folio is from one of the greatest painted manuscripts of all time: the Shah-Nameh produced for the Safavid shah Tahmasp I (reigned 1524–76). The Shah-Nameh (Book of Kings) took twenty years or more to complete. Almost all the major Iranian artists from the first half of the sixteenth century were involved in this monumental project. Its 258 illustrations are considered the zenith of the art of Persian painting.

School Courtyard with Boys Reading and Writing (Detail), Folio 149v of the Akhlaq-e Nasiri (Ethics of Nasir) by Tusi (d. 1274), Northern India (Historic Hindustan), ca. 1590–95, Opaque watercolour, ink, and gold on paper, 23.9 x 14.2 cm.

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The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, which is dedicated to presenting an overview of the artistic, intellectual and scientific contributions that Muslim civilisations have made to world heritage, will open its doors to the public on 18 September. 

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