Islamic art on display in Tbilisi

A permanent collection of Islamic art at the Georgian National Museum contains items from the mid-19th century to the 20th century.

Most of the artwork was donated in the 1870s and 1880s by families in the region – originally through the Society for Propogation of Literacy Among the Georgians and the Society for Ethnography and History. After these institutions were disbanded the Islamic collection was divided between the Georgian National Museum (the former Caucasian Museum) and the Museum of Fine Arts. The collection became a permanent collection in 1921, mainly with Persian paintings. From 1990 there are five permanent exhibitions dedicated to Islamic art.

The Islamic collection of Persian paintings includes works from four periods: (1) Fath-‘Ali Shah period (1798-1834), (2) Muhammad Shah period (1834-1848), (3) Nasser ad-Din Shah Qajar period (1848-1896), and (4) Iran 1319 AH (1901-1902).

From the Fath-‘Ali Shah period (1798-1834) there are paintings called ‘Dancer with Castanets’ and ‘Sisters’ by an unknown artist and the ‘Portrait of Faridun’ by Hajji Agha Jan. There is also a smaller piece called ‘Bird’ by an unknown artist, using the eglomise technique (glass-gilded – painting on the back or reverse side with gilding and opaque watercolours).

From the Muhammad Shah period (1834-1848) is the ‘Portrait of Mohammad Shah’ by an unknown artist (top photo) and ‘Woman with a Tambourine’ by ‘Shirin Painter’ (below).

From the Nasser ad-Din Shah Qajar Art period (1848-1896) is ‘Woman Portrait’ by an unknown artist. The woman is dressed in clothes of the period, similar to the costumes of ballet dancers the Shah saw in Western Europe and Russia.

‘Spring’ is a painting by Abu ‘l-Qasim Isfahani, circa 1901-1902.

http://museum.ge

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