Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting at LACMA

 

Unknown painter (French School), Enjoying Coffee, Turkey, first half of the 18th century, Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation's Orientalist Painting Collection, Pera Museum, Istanbul, photo © Pera Museum, Istanbul

 
 

Dining with the Sultan

The Fine Art of Feasting

 

December 17, 2023 — August 4, 2024

The act of coming together to partake of a meal is a practice shared by all cultures. Food defines us—we are what we eat. Dining with the Sultan is the first exhibition to present Islamic art in the context of its associated culinary traditions. It will include some 250 works of art related to the sourcing, preparation, serving, and consumption of food, from 30 public and private collections in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East—objects of undisputed quality and appeal, viewed through the universal lens of fine dining. The exhibition will stimulate not only the eyes but also the appetite, reminding visitors of the communal pleasure of food—both its taste and its presentation. It will provide much-needed information on the enormous class of luxury objects that may be broadly defined as tableware and demonstrate how gustatory discernment was a fundamental activity at the great Islamic courts.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Exhibition Preview

 

Damascus Room (detail), 1766–67 CE/AH 1180, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Conservation of the room was organized in partnership with the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture; additional conservation support was provided by the Friends of Heritage Preservation, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Damascus Room, 1766–67 CE/AH 1180, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Conservation of the room was organized in partnership with the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture; additional conservation support was provided by the Friends of Heritage Preservation, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Damascus Room (detail), 1766–67 CE/AH 1180, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Conservation of the room was organized in partnership with the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture; additional conservation support was provided by the Friends of Heritage Preservation, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Isma‘il Jalayir, Women around a Samovar, Iran, Tehran, c. 1870s, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, given by Lady Janet Clark, photo © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Damascus Room, 1766–67 CE/AH 1180, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Conservation of the room was organized in partnership with the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture; additional conservation support was provided by the Friends of Heritage Preservation, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Damascus Room, 1766–67 CE/AH 1180, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Conservation of the room was organized in partnership with the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture; additional conservation support was provided by the Friends of Heritage Preservation, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Damascus Room (detail), 1766–67 CE/AH 1180, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Conservation of the room was organized in partnership with the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture; additional conservation support was provided by the Friends of Heritage Preservation, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Spoon, India, first half of the 17th century, The al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait, photo © The al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait

Tray, India, Deccan, second half of 17th century, The David Collection, Copenhagen, photo courtesy The David Collection, Copenhagen, by Pernille Klemp

Bowl with Handles, India, c. 1640–50, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, from the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Museum Associates Purchase, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Jug, signed by Husayn ibn Mubarakshah, Afghanistan, Herat, 1484–85 CE/889 AH, Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, photo © Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar

A Banquet Scene with Hormuz, folio from a dispersed manuscript of the Shahnama of Firdawsi, Iran, Shiraz, c. 1485–95, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, gift of Joan Palevsky, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Footed Dish Turkey, Iznik, late 16th century, Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, photo © Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar

Bowl, Iraq, 9th–10th century, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, photo © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Jar, Syria, Raqqa, early 13th century, The Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, photo © Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar

Tray cover, Turkey, 18th–19th century, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, purchased with funds provided by Songul Afacan Yaprak and Tolga Yaprak in loving memory of Mazhar Afacan, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Dish with Quails, Iran, late 17th–early 18th century, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, gift of Gerald Reitlinger, 1978, image © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Flask, India, Deccan, 16th–17th century, The Farjam Collection, photo courtesy of The Farjam Collection

Dish, Iran, probably Nishapur, mid-15th century, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, The Avery Brundage Collection, photograph © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

Bowl, India, probably Cambay, c. 16th century, The al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait, photo © The al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait

Tankard, Turkey, Iznik, c. 1575, Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, photo © Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar

Nigari, Members of Court of Sultan Selim II (r. 1566 –1574), Turkey, c. 1570, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Edwin Binney, 3rd, Collection of Turkish Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Unknown painter (French School), Enjoying Coffee , Turkey, first half of the 18th century, Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation's Orientalist Painting Collection, Pera Museum, Istanbul, photo © Pera Museum, Istanbul

Coat, Iran, Safavid, late 18th century, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of Mrs. Gordon Knight Smith, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

 
News 14, Exhibitions 3Editorial TeamArt of the Ancestors, Steven G. Alpert, Asian Art, Island Southeast Asian Art, Oceanic Art, Asiatica, Ethnographica, Ethnographic Art, Art Collection, Fine Art, Primitive Art, Indonesian Art, Tribal Art, Eyes of the Ancestors, Dr. Reimar Schefold, LACMA