Pearls on a String: Artists, Patrons, and Poets at the Great Islamic Courts

An international loan exhibition of Islamic art organized in collaboration with the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Pearls on a String: Artists, Patrons, and Poets at the Great Islamic Courts emphasizes the role of human relationships in inspiring and sustaining artistic creativity at imperial courts. The exhibition spans a geographic range from the Bay of Bengal to the Mediterranean Sea and dates from the 16th to the 18thcentury — a period marked by the global movement of ideas and technologies and increased interaction among various cultural and religious communities. Pearls on a String is organized into three vignettes, each pivoting around a main protagonist in a different century and empire of the Islamic world. Through 64 exquisite artworks, Pearls on String tells the stories of a writer in 16th-century Mughal India, a painter in17th-century Safavid Iran, and a patron in 18th-century Ottoman Turkey.

Organized by the Walters Art Museum and the Asian Art Museum. Accompanied by a catalogue.