By Oya Pancaroglu
Chicago collector Harvey B. Plotnick has assembled what is generally
regarded as the finest private collection of early Islamic ceramics in
the world. From this truly outstanding collection—much admired by
specialists in the field of Islamic art and connoisseurs alike—a
selection of approximately 100 of the finest treasures ranging in date
from early Abbasid Iraq to Ilkhanid Iran will, for the first time, be
made available to a wider audience through this sumptuous catalogue,
which accompanies a spring 2007 exhibition at the Art Institute.
Perpetual Glory features an introductory essay and catalogue entries
written by Oya Pancaroglu, Departmental Lecturer in Islamic Art and
Architecture at the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the University of
Oxford. Pancaroglu explains the exalted status that ceramics held in
the medieval Islamic world; the developments of various techniques in
ceramic production (including fritware, lusterware, and mina'i or
enameled ware); and the singular importance of the Plotnick collection.
Featured prominently here are lusterware vessels produced through an
exacting process of glaze and paint applications and multiple firings
that was a highly guarded secret of families of craftsmen in the
renowned artistic center of Kashan, Iran.
Exhibition: March 30–October 28, 2007
The Art Institute of Chicago 2007
9 1/2 x 10 1/2 in.; 160 pages, 140 illustrations (120 color)
Hardcover; $50.00; ISBN: 978 0 300 11943 5
Order online from the Art Institute Museum Shop or call 1-800-905-8537.
This book is available to booksellers at wholesale prices from Yale University Press.
Related exhibition: Perpetual Glory: Medieval Islamic Ceramics from the Harvey B. Plotnick Collection.
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