Islamic art exhibition to open in London

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2007

LONDON (AFP) — A collection of Islamic art featuring precious objects from the ninth to the 19th centuries is set to be opened in London on Thursday by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, named after the spiritual head of Ismaili Muslims.

The collection of 165 objects, shown to the press Monday, comes from regions as far apart as India to the east and Morocco to the west, depicts the general outlines of Islamic art's refinement and diversity over 10 centuries.

Persian miniatures, pages of calligraphy from the Koran, ceramics, medical tools and musical instruments show different aspects of Islamic culture.

Among the rarest pieces was an 11th-century manuscript of Ibn Sina's, or Avicenna's, "Canon of Medicine", which was the standard medical textbook in the Middle...