Art from the Islamic world is on display and is topic of Johnson lecture

A selection of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art's recent acquisitions in Islamic art is on view through April 7.

A folio from a 13th century Spanish Koran, ink and gold on paper.

Works include several Koran pages, ceramics, silver and wood carving, and they come from Iran, India, Spain and other Islamic cultures, ranging from the 10th to the 19th centuries.

In connection with the exhibition, Nasser Rabbat, the Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will give a lecture today, March 14, at 5:15 p.m. His talk is titled "On Words and Images: Rethinking the Formation of Islamic Art." It is free and open to all.

Many distinctive cultures left their imprint on Islamic art over the past 14 centuries, yet there are certain unifying features. Foremost is calligraphy, particularly Arabic script, because of the centrality of the Koran to Islamic culture. Calligraphic motifs, whether based on actual or pseudo writing, appear as ornament in all the arts, from those of the book to architecture and the decorative arts. The presence everywhere of interlaced and repeating patterns, such as the arabesque, in the visual arts echoes the importance of mathematics, astronomy and music within the Islamic world.

Figurative decoration plays a subordinate role in Islamic art, since, to eliminate any chance of idolatry, it is avoided within the context of mosque architecture and the making of Korans. No restriction against the depiction of humans and animals exists, however, in the production of secular architecture, illustrated literature and histories, or in the decorative arts.

The exhibition is co-sponsored by the Department of Near Eastern Studies.

For more information, call 255-6464 or visit www.museum.cornell.edu.