See Marylin Jenkins-Madina, “Collecting the ‘Orient’ at the Met: Early Tastemakers in America,” Ars Orientalis 30 (2000): 69–89; Marianna Shreve Simpson, “ ‘A Gallant Era’: Henry Walters, Islamic Art, and the Kelekian Collection,” Ars Orientalis 30 (2000): 91–112; Stuart Cary Welch, “Private Collectors and Islamic Arts of the Book,” in Treasures of Islam, ed. Toby Falk, exh. cat. (London, 1985), 25–31; and Julia Bailey, “Early Rug Collectors of New England,” in Through the Collector’s Eye: Oriental Rugs from New England Private Collections, ed. Susan Anderson Hay (Providence, R.I., 1991), 12–21.

See Marylin Jenkins-Madina, “Collecting the ‘Orient’ at the Met: Early Tastemakers in America,” Ars Orientalis 30 (2000): 69–89; Marianna Shreve Simpson, “ ‘A Gallant Era’: Henry Walters, Islamic Art, and the Kelekian Collection,” Ars Orientalis 30 (2000): 91–112; Stuart Cary Welch, “Private Collectors and Islamic Arts of the Book,” in Treasures of Islam, ed. Toby Falk, exh. cat. (London, 1985), 25–31; and Julia Bailey, “Early Rug Collectors of New England,” in Through the Collector’s Eye: Oriental Rugs from New England Private Collections, ed. Susan Anderson Hay (Providence, R.I., 1991), 12–21.)| false
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Kishwar Rizvi, “Art History and the Nation: Arthur Upham Pope and the Discourse on ‘Persian Art’ in the Early Twentieth Century,” Muqarnas 24 (2007): 47.

Kishwar Rizvi, “Art History and the Nation: Arthur Upham Pope and the Discourse on ‘Persian Art’ in the Early Twentieth Century,” Muqarnas 24 (2007): 47.)| false
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Chong, Journeys East, 36.

Chong, Journeys East, 36.)| false
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Whitehill, Museum of Fine Arts, 240.

Whitehill, Museum of Fine Arts, 240.)| false
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See Soucek, “Walter Pater, Bernard Berenson.” The interest in Persian art was also related to the Art Nouveau Movement (ca. 1890–1910), which inspired a growing interest in non-Western art and encouraged appreciation of a wider range of arts, including textiles, furniture, glassware, book design, and jewelry. Iranian glassware in particular was a source of inspiration for Art Nouveau artists. See Vernoit, “Islamic Art and Architecture: An Overview,” 29.

See Soucek, “Walter Pater, Bernard Berenson.” The interest in Persian art was also related to the Art Nouveau Movement (ca. 1890–1910), which inspired a growing interest in non-Western art and encouraged appreciation of a wider range of arts, including textiles, furniture, glassware, book design, and jewelry. Iranian glassware in particular was a source of inspiration for Art Nouveau artists. See Vernoit, “Islamic Art and Architecture: An Overview,” 29.)| false
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Neil Harris, “Collective Possession: J. Pierpont Morgan and the American Imagination,” in Cultural Excursions: Marketing Appetites and Cultural Tastes in Modern America, ed. Neil Harris (Chicago, 1990), 267–68.

Neil Harris, “Collective Possession: J. Pierpont Morgan and the American Imagination,” in Cultural Excursions: Marketing Appetites and Cultural Tastes in Modern America, ed. Neil Harris (Chicago, 1990), 267–68.)| false
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Quoted in Whitehill, Museum of Fine Arts, 212–13. Prichard was actually writing about a slightly earlier period in the museum’s history, the 1890s. However, there is no reason to believe that these aspects of museum life should not have continued into the early twentieth century.

Quoted in Whitehill, Museum of Fine Arts, 212–13. Prichard was actually writing about a slightly earlier period in the museum’s history, the 1890s. However, there is no reason to believe that these aspects of museum life should not have continued into the early twentieth century.)| false
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See Whitehill, Museum of Fine Arts, 240. This was part of a broader trend at the museum away from classification by medium toward arranging materials by region and period.

See Whitehill, Museum of Fine Arts, 240. This was part of a broader trend at the museum away from classification by medium toward arranging materials by region and period. )| false
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After Coomaraswamy died in 1947, there was no Islamic art curator until Milo Cleveland Beach arrived in 1964.

Exhibition Records (HC 6), file 2011. Harvard Art Museums Archives, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

, January 29, 1930. Exhibition Records (HC 6), file 2011. Harvard Art Museums Archives, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

, December 1, 1934. Exhibition Records (HC 6), file 2009. Harvard Art Museums Archives, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

See Finbarr Barry Flood, “From the Prophet to Postmodernism? New World Orders and the End of Islamic Art,” in Making Art History: A Changing Discipline and Its Institutions, ed. Elizabeth C. Mansfield (New York, 2007), 31–39. This idea has been very influential in the field and remains so to this day. In a recent appraisal of the field, Blair and Bloom, “Mirage of Islamic Art,” 175, assert that twentieth-century art from the Islamic world should best be left to scholars of the contemporary arts, since it is altogether different from the true artistic traditions of the Islamic world. Although these remarks were meant as a corrective to the idea of the “unchanging East,” such notions actually perpetuate the enforced dichotomy between an Islamic, “pre-modern” tradition and art produced under the era of Western-induced modernity. There is no reason why such subjects should not be of interest to both scholars of classical Islamic art and those of contemporary art.

See Finbarr Barry Flood, “From the Prophet to Postmodernism? New World Orders and the End of Islamic Art,” in Making Art History: A Changing Discipline and Its Institutions, ed. Elizabeth C. Mansfield (New York, 2007), 31–39. This idea has been very influential in the field and remains so to this day. In a recent appraisal of the field, Blair and Bloom, “Mirage of Islamic Art,” 175, assert that twentieth-century art from the Islamic world should best be left to scholars of the contemporary arts, since it is altogether different from the true artistic traditions of the Islamic world. Although these remarks were meant as a corrective to the idea of the “unchanging East,” such notions actually perpetuate the enforced dichotomy between an Islamic, “pre-modern” tradition and art produced under the era of Western-induced modernity. There is no reason why such subjects should not be of interest to both scholars of classical Islamic art and those of contemporary art.)| false
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Eric Schroeder, “6000 Years of Persian Art,” Parnassus 12, 5 (1940): 20.

Eric Schroeder, “6000 Years of Persian Art,” Parnassus 12, 5 (1940): 20.)| false
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News Release, June 1, 1949. Exhibition Records (HC 6), file 1492. Harvard Art Museums Archives, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

News Release, June 1, 1949. Exhibition Records (HC 6), file 1492. Harvard Art Museums Archives, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

News Release, June 1, 1949. Exhibition Records (HC 6), file 1492. Harvard Art Museums Archives, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

Richard Ettinghausen, “The Character of Islamic Art,” in The Arab Heritage, ed. Nabih Amin Faris (Princeton, N.J., 1944), 251. For a corrective to Ettinghausen’s analysis, see Mehmet Aga-Oglu, “Remarks on the Character of Islamic Art,” Art Bulletin 36, 3 (September 1954): 175–202.

Richard Ettinghausen, “The Character of Islamic Art,” in The Arab Heritage, ed. Nabih Amin Faris (Princeton, N.J., 1944), 251. For a corrective to Ettinghausen’s analysis, see Mehmet Aga-Oglu, “Remarks on the Character of Islamic Art,” Art Bulletin 36, 3 (September 1954): 175–202.)| false
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Ettinghausen, “Character of Islamic Art,” 260. Ettinghausen concluded his analysis by observing that “Islamic art usually consists of a humble base; this is often covered with some sparkling or evanescent surface decoration which purports to be of precious material and presents forms divested of corporeal substance.”

Ettinghausen, “Character of Islamic Art,” 260. Ettinghausen concluded his analysis by observing that “Islamic art usually consists of a humble base; this is often covered with some sparkling or evanescent surface decoration which purports to be of precious material and presents forms divested of corporeal substance.” )| false
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Throughout the 1950s, McMullan gave considerable sums to support the study of Islamic art at Harvard. In 1956, the money was transferred into a special fund for “the encouragement of the study of the art and culture of the Islamic world”: Letter from Joseph McMullan to Nathan Pusey, March 5, 1956. John Coolidge and Agnes Mongan Papers (HC 5), file 1643. Harvard Art Museums Archives, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. It was named the Damon-Dilley Fund, after the two eminent rug collectors Arthur Dilley and Theron Johnson Damon, and is still being used to support travel and research related to Islamic art and architecture for Harvard students.

See Lockman, Contending Visions, 115–30.

See Lockman, Contending Visions, 115–30.)| false
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