Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2023 -

Housed in a stunning I. M. Pei-designed building, the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar, opened to great acclaim in 2008 as one of the world's newest and best collections of arts from the entire Muslim world. Some 15 years later, the Qatar museum has just completed an ambitious relaunch and reinstallation of its collection, and this massive volume, edited by the museum's director, presents an overview of the holdings in beautifully illustrated essays and short entries by 40 learned contributors. After an initial presentation of selected masterpieces from the collection, individual chapters discuss such broad and varied themes as the Qur'an, religious life, and learning and knowledge. These are followed by chapters focusing on historical and geographical aspects of early Islam, the Eastern lands of Iran and Central Asia, the Mediterranean region, the arts of Turkey and the Ottoman provinces, arms and armor, imperial arts of Iran and Central Asia, imperial arts of South Asia, the Indian Ocean trade, and manuscripts, painting, and calligraphy. Entries provide detailed information about each work illustrated, including provenance, and an extensive bibliography directs readers to the most recent scholarship. Altogether a feast for the eye and the mind.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals; general readers.