When examining successful relations between the Islamic world and the West, the first stop is unlikely to be the USA. Washington DC would probably be the last choice of all. Minneapolis, on the other hand, turns out to be much more accommodating. It’s not a city that’s well known to Malaysians, but it has a museum that is as far from redneck attitudes as a restaurant at the Ritz Hotel is from a presidential cheeseburger in bed.
The city of Minneapolis is a quarter the size of Kuala Lumpur and yet the Minneapolis Institute of Art has a first-rate collection of Islamic art. It’s an unexpected bonus for travellers in the Mid-West. In early June the MIA is launching an exhibition that combines the antique marvels of the Middle East with the interior-design aspirations of Olde England. The surprises keep mounting in Minneapolis.
The title ‘Turkish Rugs on Tudor Walls: 16th-Century Trade between England and Islam’ might lead visitors to expect a lot of Turkish rugs, but it is really more about Tudor walls and the variety of items that decorated them. In Tudor England, more than anywhere, the pleasures of Islamic design were understood early. A bond was formed between the Islamic world — mainly Turkey — and the outer fringes of Europe. The Turks were the enemy of the rest of Europe, which made them friends of the insular English in a sort of Brexit situation of its day.
The period of the Protestant Reformation was very significant for appreciation of Islamic art. Five hundred years ago, the Islamic world comprised much of North Africa, Persia and Eastern Europe. Protestant Christian England, recently separated from the mostly Catholic Continent, forged lucrative trade, diplomatic and cultural relations with Muslim global powers, mainly the Ottomans.
By the late 16th century, few prosperous English homes lacked a ‘Turkey rug’ or silks, ceramics and metalwork. These goods, as well as domestically produced versions of them, later found their way into English daily life. Yet, as much as the English admired the sumptuous wares, the tiny, isolated island nation wrestled over doing business with a people it deemed “heathen.”
The very title of the exhibition ‘Turkish Rugs on Tudor Walls’ emphasises the importance of these weavings at a time when paintings were relatively unknown and textiles were the thing to put on the walls of the elite. Going beyond the aesthetics of the relationship between the furthest west of Europe and the most easterly part of the Mediterranean, the exhibition shows how vital trade has been in creating bonds between seemingly incompatible forces.
Even the devoutly Christian Queen Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII, considered marrying one of her female relatives off to an Ottoman Muslim for the sake of political expedience. The young girl was, apparently, inconsolable at the thought of joining an Ottoman harem and was let off the hook, but not before Elizabeth had created a line of crescent-shaped silver badges to commemorate the new understanding with the Muslims.
OF CARPETS AND RUGS
Before this time, going back to the Crusades, horses had been a bond between East and West. This continued until the 19th century, when even Napoleon Bonaparte chose two Arabians as his favourite vehicles. Some of the most sympathetic responses to the Islamic world have come from equestrians who cannot resist the willful energy of the Arabian horse. A few weeks ago, I treated Sunday Times readers to an entire article on one painting of such a horse, although this exemplar happened to be dying in a desert.
A less animated force for harmony between the Islamic world and the West has been the carpet. Some of the best known are the so-called ‘Polonaise’ carpets. Their value is still apparent internationally. Last month a Safavid silk and metal-thread 'Polonaise' carpet from Isfahan, central Persia, first quarter of the 17th century fetched more than RM20 million. These were usually used as diplomatic gifts, and most welcome they were in Europe.
The provenance of the record-breaking carpet couldn’t be much more illustrious. This one had belonged to Saxon Elector and later King of Poland Augustus the Strong. The Persian emperor responsible was Shah Abbas, a ruler with a warm welcome for foreigners and a keen appreciation of European tastes.
Before these, it was the ‘Turkey rugs’ of the 16th century that made an impression that continues to this day. Turkish weavings were the first to reach Europe in any quantity and, along with other works from the heart of the Ottoman empire, they were the last word in luxury. It is mainly through the paintings of Hans Holbein and Lorenzo Lotto that we are so familiar with these floor coverings.
Most were too precious ever to put on a floor, although King Henry VIII of England is seen straddling them in various paintings. A more typical setting would be on a table or wall, as seen in Holbein’s much-discussed painting The Ambassadors. Most of the discussion is about the trompe l’oeil skull rather than the Turkish rug.
To see the impression that all things Islamic made on Europe 500 years ago, head for Minneapolis. As the US cranks up its various tariffs and embargoes, this exhibition makes clear how much more free trade there was all those centuries ago.
The US president should be the first visitor at the MIA, but it is a rare museum or cultural event — apart from Miss Universe — that has ever been graced with his presence.
‘Turkish Rugs on Tudor Walls: 16th-Century Trade between England and Islam’
Where: The Minneapolis Institute of Art
When: Until June 7, 2020