Browse Items (101 total)

This hand-coloured woodblock print shows a group of women of the upper class in a scene of collective reading, gathered around a reading stand, while another woman at right brings in more books. The women are likely reading poetry or popular…

The entire cycle of creation and destruction is captured in this image of the Hindu deity Vishnu in his role as preserver and renewer. As one age ends, Vishnu swallows up the universe and turns it into a formless ocean; reclining on the mighty…

These two pages come from the Jain Kalpa Sutra, an important religious text that details the lives of the 24 Jain Tirthankaras (literally, 'ford-crossers'). In Jainism, it is believed that 24 religious teachers entered the world, at separate times,…

A camel fight--whether featuring two-humped camels or the one-humped dromedaries seen here--is a frequent theme in the art of Iran and Mughal India reflecting the importance of camels in transport, trade, and culture. The sense of violent movement…

From the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto: In eastern Islamic lands, many Jewish communities mounted the parchment Torah scrolls in a rigid cylindrical case, which was often pained or covered with embossed silver. The case stood erect on the reader's…

From the Royal Ontario Museum collection: This Torah case from the synagogue at Kaifeng was collected by William C. White, Anglican Bishop in Henan Province in the early 20th century. This object is part of the virtual exhibit only.

Beautiful but fragile textiles are among the rarest items to survive from the medieval Silk Roads. Often only a few fragments remain, such as the hem of a sleeve or collar, as in the delicate tapestry-woven script (Arabic tiraz, derived from the…

These delicate tapestry-woven textile armbands with inscriptions (Arabic, tiraz) rendered in golden Kufic script lettering would have adorned the wearer's body in a luxurious echo of the regal blue and gold parchment Qur'ans produced during the…

Physical travel is not the only form of journey: imaginative travel, guided by diagram or text, also provides access to new horizons. This rectangular tile, which would have been installed in a mosque or in a private home, depicts a stylized map of…

This manuscript painting depicts three courtiers of Alexander the Great, wearing robes with tiraz weavings on their sleeves, dutifully gathering at his tomb to mourn him.

This painting depicts Prince Siyavush, whose story is told in Firdausi's Shahnameh, the Persian epic of kings and heroes, and among the most famous epic poems of world literature. Like Joseph in Egypt, the young prince is endangered when he refuses…

Whether hung on a wall or carried on the body, talismans covered with ornate inscriptions were believed to provide protection and secure blessings (Arabic, barakat). The gazelle skin shown here is inked with magic squares and inscriptions, promising…

This handwritten loose-leaf book (Tibetan, pecha) tells the story of a Buddhist woman named Alak Karma Wangzin who was a delog--that is, a person who dies briefly and then revives, and therefore can reveal the mysteries of life after death. Karma…

The oblong pages of this palm-leaf format (pothi) book contain powerful spells or mantras to treat illness, prevent disaster, and grant wellbeing. The five protective goddesses pictured here embody the five mantra collections that make up the text.…

The sweet lyrics of Rumi (Maulana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi) are among the gems of world literature, and his Spiritual Couplets (Masnavi) is one of the most well-known works of Islamic Sufism. This copy's small nasta'liq script, arranged in ornate…

"The pen is a key that opens the door to the necessities of life." These Ottoman tools of the scribe feature exquisite workmanship in steel and brass with precious inlays of gold, silver, ivory, and turquoise. The elegant execution of these tools -…

Tailored for the senior rabbi of a synagogue in Bukhara, in modern-day Uzbekistan, this spectacular robe draws on a long Ottoman tradition of ornately decorated textiles. The robe, which would only have been worn on special occasions, features…

This luxurious robe tells four different stories. It shows the court of wise King Solomon, illustrating his marvellous ability to understand the languages of all creatures, followed by that of the Abbasid caliph Haroun al-Rashid, offering a…

Robe, Central Asia, 13th century, Silk, woven
AKM816

Central Asia is known as the land of textiles, where the art of producing resist-dyed and woven (ikat) fabrics reached its height in the nineteenth century. These robes (chapans), worn by both men and women, were made from silk or velvet and, later,…