Toulouse. This exhibition presents ten exceptional pieces around Islam on loan from the Louvre
Through Toulouse editorial office
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The museum of precious arts Paul-Dupuy in Toulouse, like 17 other French cities, hosts a very beautiful exhibition entitled “Arts of Islam, a past for a present”.
Pieces ready by the Louvre
The plural is important: from ceramics to textiles, from calligraphy to painting, it is all the richness of Arab-Muslim art that will be offered to visitors. “We are going to try to paint a broad panorama of this culture which extends from the north of Spain to India via Indonesia”, explains Francis Saint-Genez, director and chief curator of the Paul-Dupuy museum. . “We will show ten pieces – I can say ten masterpieces – which are both local, belonging to Arab-Muslim heritage and on loan from the Louvre, as well as a contemporary work, ”explains the co-curator of the exhibition.
Bringing the worlds closer
These rare and precious objects, like the astrolabe of Abu Bakr ibn Yusuf (kept at the Paul-Dupuy museum), translate and underline the crossed influences, the interbreeding and the hybridizations. who brought together the Christian worlds and the cultures of the Koran, from the Middle Ages to today. The astrolabe, this scientific instrument signed by one of the greatest Moroccan manufacturers (it is indicated on the object: “made by Abu Bakr ibn Yusuf in the city of Marrakech – may God make flourishing – in the year 613” (i.e. in 1216/1217).
From the shroud of Saint-Exupère to the visual daring of Nicène Kossentini
The famous shroud of Saint-Exupère from the Saint-Sernin basilica, which is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful European examples of this medieval Islamic silk garment, will be presented, associated with the famous ivory oliphant and its five carved registers. Loans from the Louvre and the Musée de l’Armée allow you to show masterpieces from medieval Iran, Mughal India and Ottoman Turkey, with this superb portrait of Sultan Mustapha II.
An Arabic prayer scroll
A sublime breastplate with mirrored facets with a gold inlaid decoration will testify to an Iranian style which was spread as much in India as in Turkey in the 16th century.e century. At last, an Arabic prayer scroll over two meters long is a magnificent testimony to the beliefs in the prophylactic powers of these prayers unrolling the 99 beautiful names of God as well as those of the prophet Muhammad and the four caliphs who succeeded him.
For the “contemporary” part of this captivating exhibition, the visit will take us in the footsteps of Tunisian artist, videographer and photographer Nicène Kossentini: the link between the past and the present promised by the exhibition’s subtitle is done, across centuries and continents.
Jean-Claude Simon
Information on the museum website.
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