Frieze Tile with Bahram Gur and Azada, ca. 1270–75
Iran (Takht-i Sulaiman)
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
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The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Arts and Culture in Western Asia, 1256–1353: Courtly Arts and Culture in Western Asia, 1256–1353
UNITED STATES
LOS ANGELES • Los Angeles County Museum of Art • Ongoing
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In a lifetime characterized by war and conquest, Genghis Khan (1167?–1227) forged the largest contiguous land empire in human history. His legacy was a unified Mongol confederacy that his sons and grandsons ruled for more than a century. During this peaceful era, people, objects, and ideas moved with unprecedented freedom over a vast territory that reached from the Pacific Ocean to the Black Sea. The confluence of previously distant cultures yielded a bold new visual aesthetic that would resonate in Islamic art for centuries to come.
The show explores the influence of China's Yuan dynasty, founded by Kublai Khan (a grandson of Genghis Khan), on the art and culture of Iran's Ilkhanid dynasty, founded by Hülegü (another of his grandsons). On view are some 200 works from museums and collections worldwide, including rare textiles, ceramics, jewelry and metalwork, works in stone and wood, and outstanding examples of the art of the book. A highlight is the display of more than thirty vividly illustrated pages from the Great Mongol Shahnama (Book of Kings). Now dispersed in many collections worldwide, this version of the Iranian epic—made for a royal patron—is one of the most luxurious ever produced.
An illustrated catalogue published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and distributed by Yale University Press accompanies the exhibition and includes essays by an interdisciplinary team of scholars.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art Web Site
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