Browse Items (144 total)

Side view of the Aga Khan Museum's PS24, Robe. Embroidered illustration of Sultan Sanjar and the Old Woman. Depicts a scene from the Treasury of Secrets epic poem written in the Shahnameh.

Painting of King Solomon's seated on a gold throne above a congregation of creatures and beings. The image was likely intended to demonstrate the King's influence over the realm of animals, angels, celestial beings and demons. The horned human-like…

Mosaic floor pattern depicting a scene between lovers, Metiochus and Parthenope from a Greek tale.

This Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) was written and decorated in 1307 in Christian-ruled Toledo at a time when Jewish life in Spain was becoming increasingly difficult, culminating in the final expulsion of Jews as well as Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula…

The contents (Sanskrit text and Hindu iconography), materials (Islamic burnished paper and Indian textiles), and format (Islamic-style binding of this manuscript of the Hindu Bhagavad Gita) all illuminate the fecund encounter of Persian and South…

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…

"Glory to God" (subhan Allah) appears on the right-hand page as an ornate Arabic letter form upon a delicate floral background. The sweeping letter forms and particularly thin uprights show how the monumental thuluth script was adapted by Chinese…

Persian, Indian, and European forms converge in this stunning painting of Alexander the Great (Eskandar). Seated in a pose that resembles that of the Mughal ruler Humayun, Eskandar wears a helmet engraved with the image of a horse -- perhaps his…

This monumental map follows India's Ganges River and one of its sources, the Alakananda, from the point of view of a Hindu pilgrim travelling from one shrine to the next, following the path of the rivers from left to right. Beginning at Devprayag,…

Spiritual travel is experienced through sung prayer as well as through map image. This choir book or "antiphoner" includes chants for the Christian Holy Week of Easter. So heavy that it can only be moved by two people, this enormous book would have…