Seyh Hamdullah (Islamic, 1436 (?)-1520), Album of Calligraphy, Turkey, opaque watercolor and ink on paper mounted on thin pasteboard bound between sheepskin-covered boards with gold and chamois leather. Folio H: 11 13/16 x W: 9 1/16 in. (30 x 23 cm). The Walters Art Museum (W.672).

BALTIMORE, MD.- The great Mughal, Safavid, and Ottoman empires flourished during a time of rapid change and artistic innovation in the Islamic world, as people, ideas, and technologies spread across Europe and Asia. At the heart of the empires’ courts were networks of individuals—writers, poets, artists, craftsmen—who produced extraordinary works of art for the ruling elite. From November 8, 2015, through January 31, 2016, the Walters Art Museum presents Pearls on a String: Artists, Patrons, and Poets at the Great Islamic Courts, the first major exhibition to focus on these influential and often charismatic individuals. 

Mughal illustration from the Akbarnama (Book of Akbar), 16th century. The Walters Art Museum.

The free exhibition features more than 120 works including paintings, calligraphy, textiles, ceramics, and jeweled luxury objects. Dating from the 16th to the 18th century, these exquisite works of art were created in historic India, Iran, and Turkey, a vast geographic area that extends from the Bay of Bengal to the Mediterranean Sea.  

Manuscript illustration showing artisans at the Mughal court, 16th century. The Walters Art Museum.

“Pearls on a String seeks to broaden public engagement with the cultural histories of Muslim societies by demonstrating how human imagination and collaboration can ignite extraordinary artistic creativity,” said Amy Landau, associate curator of Islamic and South Asian art and curator of the exhibition. 

16th-century Persian ‘alam (standard used in processions). The Walters Art Museum.

Three Vignettes 
Pearls on a String is organized in a series of vignettes that spotlight a 16th-century writer, a 17th-century artist, and an 18th-century patron. Through poignant quotes, startling juxtapositions of artwork, and subtle references to the protagonists’ architectural surroundings, the exhibition offers a rare glimpse into their worlds. The individuals also inform the exhibition’s poetic title: viewed independently, each is a gleaming “pearl,” yet collectively they constitute an even more vibrant “string of pearls.” 

Manuscript painting of a scene from the Khamsa of Nizami, 17th century, Persian. The Walters Art Museum.

Writer Abu’l Fazl (1551–1602): A prolific writer, visionary historian and intimate at the court of the third Mughal emperor Akbar in India, he was the most powerful voice in defining Akbar’s policies of political inclusion in the context of a demographically diverse empire.  

Manuscript painting of a scene from the Manuscript painting of a scene from the Shahnama (Book of Kings), 17th century, Persian. The Walters Art Museum.

Painter Muhammad Zaman (c. 1650–1700): At the court of Safavid ruler Shah Sulayman, this imperial artist radically changed the course of Persian painting by introducing farangi-sazi, a European style, into the Persian tradition.  

Painting by Muhammad Zaman, after Rubens’s ‘Return from Egypt,’ 17th century. The Walters Art Museum.

Patron Sultan Mahmud I (1696–1754): An Ottoman ruler and active patron of the arts and architecture, this once-forgotten sultan commissioned fanciful jeweled objects as well as lavish libraries and mosques that define Istanbul’s skyline to this day.  

Portrait of Ottoman Sultan Mahmud I, 1815. The Walters Art Museum.

“The Walters’ initiative to organize its first international loan exhibition dedicated to Islamic art springs from the quality of the museum’s collection, its intellectual resources and its dedication to providing free access,” said Julia Marciari-Alexander, the Andrea B. and John H. Laporte Director of the Walters Art Museum.

Turkish Hunting Set, 1732-33.  Acquired by Henry Walters, 1903. The Walters Art Museum.