Sainsbury Special Exhibition Galleries | Book tickets

The Ashmolean autumn exhibition, Power and Protection: Islamic Art and the Supernatural, is now open until 15 January 2017.

It looks at Islam’s attitudes towards the range of practices designed to predict one’s destinies and harness hidden forces for good luck and protection. The objects selected span from the 12th century to the present day, and were produced in a vast area stretching over three continents, from Morocco in the west to China in the east, and from Turkey in the north to Indonesia in the south.

Jar with Signs of the Zodiac
Iran, early 13th century, Fritware, painted in lustre over the glaze, Diam. 18.5 cm
Presented by Sir Alan Barlow, 1956. Ashmolean Museum (EA1956.58)
© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

The exhibition is divided into three distinct but interconnected parts. The first gallery, titled ‘Interpreting Signs’, explores four types of divinatory techniques. It begins with astrology and its sister discipline astronomy, and looks at their interaction and integration with each other. Astrological imagery recurs on various types of objects, including the coffee set that once belonged to Fath ‘Ali Shah Qajar (r. 1797–1834) discussed in a previous blog post. The exhibition moves on to geomancy, or as known in the Arabic tradition, the ‘science of the sand’ (‘ilm al-raml). In this technique, the diviner traces 16 figures made of dots and lines on the sand and then interprets the sequence to answer a question. The next two divinatory techniques considered are dream interpretation and a practice known as bibliomancy, which uses books to foretell destinies and events.

Calligraphic Finial in the Shape of a Dragon
Golconda (India), late 17th–early 18th century, Brass, 18 x 10.7 cm
Purchased, 1994. Ashmolean Museum (EA1994.45)
© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

The second gallery is titled ‘The Power of the Word’. It explores how objects carrying specific inscriptions (primarily sacred in nature) became imbued with protective, curative or talismanic powers. The Qur’an is the obvious primary resource of power and protection for Muslims, and examples of the Holy Book displayed in this gallery are opened on specific verses that are known to have been used for protective or healing purposes. The range of objects exhibited here, including arms and armour as well as the so-called magico-medicinal bowls, are inscribed with sacred words and thus appeal to their shielding or restorative properties.

Amulet
India, late 17th–early 18th century, Cornelian, inscribed and jade inlaid with gold and inset with emeralds and rubies, 3.2 x 4.1 cm
Presented by J. B. Elliott, 1859. Ashmolean Museum (EA2009.5)
© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

The third and last gallery – ‘Amulets and Talismans’ – explores a wide selection of these objects. Many take the form of jewellery or small pocket-size objects, such as miniature Qur’ans or tiny scrolls kept inside cylindrical containers. Shops in various Muslim countries still offer devotional and preventive amulets for sale today. Also highlighted in this gallery are certain talismanic symbols which were considered blessed due to their associations with sacred individuals or sites. Among the most potent are the seal of Solomon and objects associated with the Prophet Muhammad, such as the mythical sword dhu’l-fiqar and his sandal (na‘l al-nabi). Finally, the exhibition looks at a selection of calligraphic works imbued with blessing (baraka) and protective powers, including the hilya (verbal portraits of the Prophet Muhammad) and calligrams (images made of words).

Pocket-size commodities and keyring sold at the Shrine of Eyüp, Istanbul
Private collection
© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Further information on the themes and objects in the exhibition can be found in the exhibition catalogue and the exhibition microsite. There are also gallery tours as well as a series of talks and events on a range of topics relating to the exhibition, details of which can be found here.

For general information about the exhibition, click here.

Walking in the Islamic Middle East Gallery at the Ashmolean Museum, visitors may encounter a set of objects of impressive finesse and intricacy (fig. 1). Comprising a lidded cup, saucer and spoon, this small gold enamelled coffee set is not only a triumph of skill and inventiveness, but also a unique lens through which a whole cultural and metaphysical context can be observed.

Fig.1 Set with Astrological Decoration, Iran, early 19th century, gold, enamelled. Accepted by HM Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax on the Estate of Basil Robinson and allocated to the Ashmolean Museum, 2009 (EA2009.2-4) © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Used for imperial regalia and diplomatic gifts since the Safavid period (1501-1736), the technique of gold enamelling became quite popular under the Qajar dynasty (1785-1925), the time when this and other comparable surviving enamels were produced. Luckily, in this case an elaborate poem distributed in elongated cartouches reveals the identity of its recipient, Fath ‘Ali Shah Qajar (r. 1797-1834), an ambitious leader and formidable patron of the arts.

In the verses bordering the saucer Fath ‘Ali Shah is compared to the Sun, acknowledged as ‘the cause of creation and the way of heaven’ and celebrated as a source of cosmic order thanks to which ‘the seven planet stars have attained their stability’. Immediately below, the decorative programme responds to the verses with personifications of the planets in a sequence of roundels: at 1 o’clock is the Moon, with its disk; at 3 o’clock Saturn, resembling a Hindu deity with multiple arms and attributes; at 5 o’clock Jupiter, unusually represented as a young kneeling woman; at 6 o’clock Mars, holding warlike attributes; at 8 o’clock the Sun; at 10 o’clock Venus, the harp-player; and, finally, at 11 o’clock the learned Mercury.

Fig.2 Personifications of the six planets and the pseudo-planet Jawzahr, ‘the dragon’ (EA2009.3) © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

The astral symbolism continues on the cup and its lid in both word and image (fig. 3). The poetry on the cup is especially ingenious in its use of puns and metaphors. It compares the reflection of the cup’s holder to a glowing Moon, a frequent paragon of beauty in Persian poetry, and declares the heavens and the zodiac ‘in the grasp of the Sun’, as by holding the cup the august ruler would symbolically have the universe in his hands. To fulfil this vision, the signs of the Western zodiac have been densely stacked on the outer surface of the vessel, alternated with personifications of the six main constellations: Cassiopeia, Perseus, Arcturus, Andromeda, Sirius and Serpens. To emphasize Fath ‘Ali Shah’s universal authority further, the lid carries another set of zodiacal signs drawn from the East Asian tradition and probably filtered to Iran through its past Mongol rulers and extensive contacts with China.

One image remains enigmatic. This is the one on the saucer’s central medallion and depicting the pseudo-planet Jawzahr, or ‘the dragon’. At times considered the eight planet, Jawzahr was responsible for lunar and solar eclipses. In the present rendition, however, entangled with a hybrid human figure featuring two heads and three bodies, its ultimate meaning remains obscure. By referring to transitory processes and the passing of time, and because of the figures’ transformation and circular arrangement, the composition may be hinting at the cyclical nature of time and ideas of rejuvenation and renewal. Both would be suitable for a ruler like Fath ‘Ali Shah who aspired to bring Iran back to its former glory.

Intended for the ‘Lord of Conjunctions’ (sahib qiran), a title that appears in historical narratives associated with Fath ‘Ali Shah and several Islamic rulers, it is no surprise that an astrological theme was chosen for the decoration of such a personal object. The term sahib qiran, increasingly adopted in royal titulature after Tamerlane (died 1405) but also used by previous Mongol and Turkic rulers, called for auspicious planetary conjunctions in relation to the reigns of specific individuals. Its addition to other imperial epithets imbued political legitimacy and authority with cosmic and universal references.

Hence, far from indicating the ruler’s ‘superstitious’ nature and actually reflecting the range of cultural associations informing royal ideology in the Persianate world, this set ultimately confirms the relevance of divinatory sciences and occult practices in Islamic courts. A more detailed historical exploration of these themes and their impact on Islamic visual and material culture will be undertaken with the exhibition Power and Protection: Islamic Art and the Supernatural, which opens at the Ashmolean Museum this coming October.