Browse Items (101 total)

Produced in a Mughal court in Lahore, this image comes from a late 16th-century manuscript on Ethics by author Nasir al-Din Tusi (1201-1274) and includes the name of the manuscript painter, Sanju. The artist has chosen to illustrate his own arduous…

The Buddha teaches his disciple Subhuti how to achieve the perfection of wisdom on this page from the Diamond Sutra, composed in Sanskrit in India around the first century CE, and translated into Tibetan in the eighth century. This woodblock-printed…

A map of the Silk Roads created for the Aga Khan Museum Exhibit, Hidden Stories: Books on the Silk Roads. The map shows the physical geography of the areas traversed by the Silk Roads trade routes.

Eskandar, in the Persian tradition, was depicted as not just a Macedonian prince but also a descendent of Iranian kings. This page from the Kitab-i Nigaristan, a collection of historical anecdotes, shows Alexander kneeling beside his dying opponent,…

Inner Asia is famous for the jewelry of its more than 30 Turkmen tribes, produced in silver, decorated with talismanic inscriptions, and adorned with carnelian or turquoise. Each element--metal, writing, and precious stones--is carefully chosen to…

Used for protection against illness, difficult childbirth, and the evil eye, this Ethiopian amulet scroll (Amharic, kitab; Arabic for 'book') was created by an ordained minister (Amharic, debtara) from pieces of parchment tailored to the height of…

The suspension loops of this gold amulet, a portable talisman, indicate that it would have been attached to a chain or cord, either worn around the neck or secured to a belt. Its inscribed Qur'anic verses offer blessings (Arabic, barakat) on the…

An Omeka assignment for an undergraduate or graduate course, based on building a public-facing scholarly digital exhibit in Omeka, studying a premodern book together with relevant comparators from GLAM (Gallery, Library, Archive, Museum)…

This exquisite page comes from the autobiographical Baburnameh, in which Zahir al-Din Muhammad Babur, descendant of Genghis Khan and founder of the Mughal Empire, describes his many travels, victories, and losses. In this scene, the 19-year-old Babur…

The Hindu Legend of the Blessed One (Bhagavata Purana) celebrates the god Vishnu, who descends to Earth in various forms to restore the balance of the universe. This page comes from a now-dispersed copy featuring paintings on one side and the…

This 18th-century register records the names and baptism dates of Indigenous children in the Mexico City parish of San Sebastian. In the colonial period, Catholic Church parishes kept separate record books for communities of Indigenous, African,…

Although this looks like the outside cover of a book, it is actually the highly decorated lining of the inner cover, or 'doublure.' Islamic doublures, created using the same techniques as the outer covers, were treated as equally important by both…

According to Islam, the Qur'an offers divine protection, and the holy book has often been kept in a lavishly decorated case when not in use for recitation. Silver, the main material of this case, was thought
to possess healing properties in the…

This wall graphic of book formats along the Silk Roads features diagrams and brief definitions of a scroll, a pothi book, a concertina or accordion book, and a codex.

The diagram consists of line diagrams: on the upper row, scroll and pothi book;…

This Burmese book of Buddhist scriptures (Kamawa-sa) includes selections written in Pali from the Tipitaka (literally, 'three baskets') of Therevada, the most ancient form of Buddhism. Costly and ornate Kamawa-sa were written on cloth or palm leaves…

Prayer books in the Christian tradition (or 'Books of Hours') list the regular set times and appropriate prayers for every day of the year. The Latin masculine word endings of the prayers reveal that this book was made for a male user, perhaps a monk…

Prayer books in the Christian tradition (or ‘Books of Hours’) list the regular set times and appropriate prayers for every day of the year. The Latin masculine word endings of the prayers reveal that this book was made for a male user, perhaps a…

Ethiopia's long history of Christian devotional reading can be seen in this carved and painted wooden book stand, recalling the famous monumental metalwork stands used for communal reading in the churches of the holy city of Lalibela, in northern…

Book stands are used in a wide range of devotional traditions -- Hinduism, Sikhism, Christianity, and Islam -- to protect and pay respect to the book, and to present it to the readers gathered around it. An example of the Islamic book stand (rehal,…

A brochure explaining different book formats and the typical features of the Islamic codex