The material and visual culture of the Islamic World casts vast arcs through space and time, and encompasses a huge range of artefacts and monuments from the minute to the grandiose, from ceramic pots to the great mosques. Here, Venetia Porter and Mariam Rosser-Owen assemble leading experts in the field to examine both the objects themselves and the ways in which they reflect their historical, cultural and economic contexts. With a focus on metalwork, this volume includes an important new study of Mosul metalwork and presents recent discoveries in the fields of Fatimid, Mamluk and Qajar metalwork. By examining architecture, ceramics, ivories and textiles, seventeenth-century Iranian painting and contemporary art, the book explores a wide range of artistic production and historical periods from the Umayyad caliphate to the modern Middle East. This rich and detailed volume makes a significant contribution to the fields of Art History, Architecture and Islamic Studies, bringing new objects to light, and shedding new light on old objects.

Venetia Porter is Curator of the Islamic and Modern Middle Eastern Art collections at the British Museum. Her recent publications are Word into Art (2006), Arabic and Persian Seals and Amulets in the British Museum (2011), The Art of Hajj (2012) and (ed.) Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam (2012). Mariam Rosser-Owen is Curator for the Middle Eastern collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum, with a focus on the Arab lands. Her most recent book is Islamic Arts from Spain (London: V&A Publishing, 2010).

INTRODUCTION: Venetia Porter and Mariam Rosser-Owen
The Principle of Parsimony: The Problem of the 'Mosul School' of Metalwork. Julian Raby
Metalwork from the Iranian world
Metalwork and Fourteenth-Century Persian Painting: A Footnote. Teresa Fitzherbert
A die engraver from Balkh. Luke Treadwell
The ugly duckling of Iranian metalwork? Initial remarks on Qajar copper and copper alloy objects in the National Museums of Scotland. Ulrike al-Khamis
Iran and India:
The Mobility of Metallurgy: A Case of Fraud in Medieval Kashmir. Finbarr B. Flood
A Tubular Bronze Object from Khurasan. Lorenz Korn
Persians Abroad: The Case of the Jami' Masjid of Gulbarga. Robert Hillenbrand
Mamluk metalwork in focus:
A Mamluk Casket: An Extraordinary Object in the Fitzwilliam Museum. Rachel Ward
A Mamluk Tray: Its Journey to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Tim Stanley
A Mamluk Basin: Arabic Titles, Well-Wishes and a Female Saint in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Luitgard Mols
Egypt and Syria: artefact and text:
A Tambourine-Player and the Fatimid Caliphate: Representation of women in Fatimid Baghdad.  Doris Behrens-Abouseif
The Fatimid Bronze Hoard of Tiberias. Elias Khamis
The Group of Round Boxes from Caesarea: The Decoration of Fatimid Metal Vessels. Ayala Lester
Islamic Embroideries from Egypt: Shifts in Taste, Change in Status. Ruth Barnes
Metalworking in Damascus: An Analysis of the Q?m?s al-?in?'?t al-Sh?miyya at the End of the Ottoman Period. Marcus Milwright
The Islamic West:
A Bronze Pillar Lampstand: Islamic Metalwork in Petralia Sottana, Sicily. Jeremy Johns
The Metal Mounts on Andalusi Ivories: Initial Observations. Mariam Rosser-Owen
Marble Spolia: Metalwork from the Badi' Palace in Marrakesh. Nadia Erzini and Stephen Vernoit
Ceramic technology and innovation:
Glaze-Decorated Unglazed Wares. Oliver Watson
'Pearl Cups Like the Moon': The Abbasid Reception of Chinese Ceramics and the Belitung Shipwreck. Jessica Hallett
Branding 'Tradition': Contemporary tin glaze pottery from Puebla, Mexico. Farzaneh Pirouz-Moussavi
Studies in lustreware:
The Lion, the Hare and Lustreware. Fahmida Suleman
Fatimid Lustreware and Said el Sadr (1909-1986): A Succession. Alan Caiger-Smith
Potter's Trail: An Abu Zayd Ewer in the St. Louis Art Museum. Oya Pancaro?lu
Painting traditions and contemporary art:
The Mobility of Visual Culture: From the Workshops of New Julfa to the court of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich. Amy Landau
Modern Palimpsests: What Defines a Fake? Emilie Savage-Smith
'Neo-calligraphism': Its Different Varieties in Modern and Contemporary Iranian Art. Hamid Keshmirshekan