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The Art of Dining: Food Culture in the Islamic World

September 22, 2024 – January 5, 2025

Updated Jul 10, 2024

The Art of Dining: Food Culture in the Islamic World brings together 230 works from the Middle East, Egypt, Central and South Asia, and beyond to explore connections between art and cuisine from ancient times to the present day. Paintings of elaborate feasts, sumptuous vessels for food and drink, and historical cookbooks show how culinary cultures have thrived in the Islamic world for centuries. Highlighting the relationship of these works to preparing, serving, and enjoying food, the exhibition engages multiple senses and invites us to appreciate the pleasures of sharing a meal.

Press release

A Banquet Scene with Hormuz, Iran, detail

The Art of Dining: Food Culture in the Islamic World brings together 230 works from the Middle East, Egypt, Central and South Asia, and beyond to explore connections between art and cuisine from ancient times to the present day. Paintings of elaborate feasts, sumptuous vessels for food and drink, and historical cookbooks show how culinary cultures have thrived in the Islamic world for centuries. Highlighting the relationship of these works to preparing, serving, and enjoying food, the exhibition engages multiple senses and invites us to appreciate the pleasures of sharing a meal.

Press release

Iran (possibly Kashan). Rooster-Headed Ewer, ca. 1200. Underglaze-painted fritware. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase with funds from Founders Junior Council, Henry Ford II Fund, Benson and Edith Ford Fund, J. Lawrence Buell, Jr. Fund, 1989.34. 

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India. Saltcellar, 1664–65. Tinned copper. Detroit Institute of Arts, City of Detroit Purchase, 30.432. 

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Turkey (Iznik). Dish, late 1400s–early 1500s. Underglaze-painted fritware. Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund, 2006.58. 

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Iran (Shiraz). A Banquet Scene with Hormuz, from a Manuscript of the Shahnama of Firdawsi, ca. 1485–95. Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, Gift of Joan Palevsky, M.73.5.413. 

© Museum Associates / LACMA 

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Muhammad Ali, Iran. An Old and a Young Man and a Woman Having a Picnic, from a Manuscript of the Diwan of Hafiz, ca. mid-1600s. Watercolor on paper. The David Collection, Copenhagen, 155/2006. 

Photo credit: Pernille Klemp 

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ndia. Bowl with Handles, ca. 1640–50, Dark green nephrite jade. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, From the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Museum Associates Purchase, M.76.2.2. © Museum Associates / LACMA

India. Bowl with Handles, ca. 1640–50. Jade. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, From the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Museum Associates Purchase, M.76.2.2. 

© Museum Associates / LACMA 

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Spain (Manises), Dish with delle Agli Family Coat of Arms, ca.1430–60. Tin-glazed earthenware. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Cloisters Collection, 1956, 56.171.152. 

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India. Babur Entertained to a Meal at the South College (1506), Folio in a Manuscript of the Baburnama (Memoirs of Babur), ca. 1590–93. Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper. The British Library, London, Or 3714, fol. 257r.

Madhava Khurd and Jamshid Chela, India. Babur Enjoying a Meal at the South Madrasa (College) in 1506, from a Manuscript of the Baburnama (Memoirs of Babur), ca. 1590–93. Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper. The British Library, London, Or 3714, fol. 257r. 

© The British Library Board 

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Turkey (Kütahya). Coffee Pot, 1700s. Underglaze-painted fritware. The British Museum, London, Bequeathed by John Henderson, 1878,1230.554. 

© The Trustees of the British Museum 

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Mir Sayyid ‘Ali (Persian, 1510–1572) and other artists, Afghanistan (Kabul) and India. The Princes of the House of Timur (Humayun’s Garden Party), 1550–55, with later additions early–mid-1600s. Opaque watercolor on cotton. The British Museum, London, bought from Ganeshi Lall of Agra, with funds provided by the Art Fund and W. Graham Robertson, 1913,0208,0.1. 

© The Trustees of the British Museum 

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