Beyond the Surface: Scientific Approaches to Islamic Metalwork

Combining art-historical and scientific analyses, this installation examines key examples of Harvard’s Islamic and pre-Islamic metalwork from the 4th through the 14th centuries. Essential to understanding Islamic metalwork is an appreciation of the ways in which metalworkers in the Islamic era adapted the technological and stylistic legacies of Roman and Byzantine precursors. For the works on display, photomicrographs and X-radiographs illuminate the major manufacturing technologies, such as casting and sheet working, as well as techniques used for decoration.

This installation draws on scientific and art-historical studies of copper alloy objects at the Harvard Art Museums; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC; and the National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh.

Curated by Katherine Eremin, Patricia Cornwell Conservation Scientist, Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, Harvard Art Museums; and Ulrike al-Khamis, independent scholar.

This installation is made possible by the Islamic and Later Indian Art Exhibition Fund.