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Clothing the Caliphate: Dress Cultures of the Early Islamic Period

Drawing of two men on either side of a plant with Arabic writing above and below them.
Warrior and Physician with the Plant Kestron, from a manuscript of De materia medica of Dioscorides, Abbasid period, Iraq, 1224. Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, 1960.193.

Lecture Norma Jean Calderwood Lecture

In-Person
Harvard Art Museums
32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA

This is an in-person event.

In this lecture, professor Jochen Sokoly will look at the clothing worn in the time of the early Islamic caliphates—between the 7th and 11th centuries—and consider the various cultural influences that shaped it. A brief introduction to the exhibition Social Fabrics: Inscribed Textiles from Medieval Egyptian Tombs will also be presented.

The textiles in this exhibition, on view through May 8, 2022, are particularly meaningful, for they tell a bigger story about political and social power, class, trade, and concerns for the afterlife during a transformative period in Egyptian history. They record the material and cultural impacts of these transitions, including the exchange of weaving and embroidery techniques, the availability of new fabrics and fibers, and interactions among people of different faiths.

Speakers:
Jochen Sokoly, Associate Professor of Art History of the Islamic World, Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar

Mary McWilliams, Exhibition Curator and Norma Jean Calderwood Curator Emerita of Islamic and Later Indian Art, Harvard Art Museums

The lecture will take place in Menschel Hall, Lower Level. Please enter the museums via the entrance on Broadway. Doors will open at 5:30pm.

After the lecture, guests are invited to visit the Social Fabrics exhibition on Level 3, until 8:30pm.

Please note that while face coverings are optional in all other spaces in the Harvard Art Museums, they are required for attendees at all programs in Menschel Hall. The museums will make disposable masks available for visitors who do not bring their own. Please review our general visitor policies, including details on COVID-related precautions.

Free admission, but seating is limited. Reservations may be arranged by clicking on the event on this form beginning on Sunday, April 10, after 10am.

Limited complimentary parking is available in the Broadway Garage, 7 Felton Street, Cambridge.

Support for this lecture is provided by The Norma Jean Calderwood Lecture Fund. The Norma Jean Calderwood Lecture Fund honors a longtime friend of the Harvard Art Museums who pursued graduate study in Islamic art at Harvard and who for many years taught Islamic and Asian art at Boston College and at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.