Browse Items (101 total)

A pencase (qalamdan), carried tucked into a shawl tied around the waist, is the symbolic badge of the scribe's vocation. While some scribes served the general public, preparing documents for those unable to write, others worked for highly educated…

Verses from the Book of Genesis appear on this page written by a member of the Jewish community of Kaifeng, China, most likely in the seventeenth or eighteenth century. Little is known about these people, who may have been the descendants of traders…

These book covers, made in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, exemplify a style of Islamic cover decoration and manuscript illumination that dates to the ninth century, featuring a central medallion with interlocking squares and pendants…

These Mishnah (Oral Torah) leaves come from the Cairo Genizah, the famed storeroom discovered in a synagogue's attic containing 400,000 carefully preserved document fragments dating from the ninth to nineteenth centuries. In the Jewish tradition,…

Pilgrimage is both a spiritual journey and an experience of wonder. This painting depicts a visit by three men to the Amarnath Cave, a shrine located in the Himalayan Mountains of Kashmir, where they marvel at a natural ice pillar or stalagmite. For…

Printing developed in East Asia long before it did in Europe, including both large-scale woodblocks and moveable type, and was used for imprinting patterns on textiles as well as on paper. Clay and wood type were made in China during the eleventh…

Printing developed in East Asia long before it did in Europe, including both large-scale woodblocks and moveable type, and was used for imprinting patterns on textiles as well as on paper. Clay and wood type were made in China during the eleventh…

Known as a bazuband, this type of Qur'an case was worn as an arm ornament. A silk string would be threaded through the palmette-shaped loops on either side of the box and tied around the bicep of a pious and wealthy person. Whether worn on the arm or…

A vivid Asian-inspired European textile forms the cover, bookmark, and carrying strap of this East African volume, handwritten in the Ge'ez language used in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The manuscript, a private devotional text read during…

This Jewish marriage contract (Hebrew, ketubah) details the groom's financial obligations to the bride in the event of divorce or widowhood. Both text and decorative object, designed to be displayed in the couple's home, it belonged to David ben…

These digital images, from the manuscript of Spiritual Words from Greek Philosophy with Sayings of the Philosophers Accompanied with their Portraits on view in the permanent gallery, feature wise maxims in Arabic attributed to Greek philosophers and…

The Mishneh Torah (not to be confused with the early medieval Mishnah that appears earlier in the exhibition) was composed by the philosopher and physician Maimonides (1138-1204). Born in Cordoba, Spain, Maimonides wrote his major works in Morocco…

This fifteenth-century copy of an important textbook in Islamic law is intricately annotated with the notes of a legal expert (Arabic, faqih) in Egypt who likely was using the book as a teaching tool. The notes are mainly case studies and problems in…

The lacquered cover of this Shahnameh manuscript showcases a dense pattern of grape-bearing vine scrolls, which continued to be an influential motif over the following centuries. This handwritten manuscript contains the Shahnameh (literally, 'Book of…

Lacquered bindings like this black and gold one, featuring flower and bird motifs, were popular in the nineteenth century. The central design displays a rosebush in various stages of bloom, with three nightingales perched
on its stems. Bindings came…

This leather folder or document case (Turkish cilbend or ciltbend) is made with semi-rigid pasteboard covered by fine leather and impressed with a raised design. The innovative techniques developed by bookbinders were made possible by the lightweight…

Both the reader's thoughtful expression and the tenderness with which he holds the book, as a cat purrs at his feet, express the sensation of being completely immersed in reading. This drawing is executed in the 'half pen' (Persian, nim qalam)…

This intimate scene depicts the doomed lovers Layli and Majnun, as Qais--later called 'the mad one' (Persian, majnun) due to his extravagant passion--meets Layli for the first time in their shared schoolroom. The highly detailed painting depicts…

Alexander the Great (356 – 323 BCE) is known under many names, including the Persian ‘Eskandar’ of these manuscripts from Iran and Uzbekistan. His Macedonian origins and association with Greek culture — above all through his teacher,…

Known in Arabic as mihbara and in Persian as dawat, inkwells like this one were an essential tool for medieval scribes, protecting the ink from dirt and enabling it to be transported easily. The two loops on either side may have been used as slots…