by Jon Lackman | 14 April 2008 | Uncategorized
In caa.reviews, Emine Fetvaci considers Venice and the Islamic World, 828-1797, the catalogue for the recent Metropolitan Museum exhibition:
With its rich essays on the historical and cultural background, focused studies on individual media, and technical examination of paint pigments, textile weaves, metalwork inlay, and lacquer and glass production, the catalogue is an impressive showcase of the resources compiled by its editor, Stefano Carboni, who also served as the exhibition’s curator … Venice and the Islamic World contributes significantly to the growing scholarship on cross-cultural exchange in the early modern Mediterranean. The sheer variety of objects examined here brings to life the particularly rich and long-lasting intercultural relationship between Venice and her Eastern trading partners, and the documentation of individual interactions suggests that these relationships were rather complex. With the repeated emphasis on Venice’s unique situation, however, the essays create the impression of a peaceful Mediterranean rarely troubled by war, an era with no calls to crusades or conversion polemics. Yet the exquisite objects examined are interesting precisely because many were created or collected during periods of conflict: they attest to the resilience of mercantile and cultural exchanges. The authors whet our appetite by alluding to Venice’s intimate and colorful relationship with the Islamic world, especially in the early essays in the catalogue; but the nuances of that relationship are not, for the most part, brought to bear on the material examined in the rest of the catalogue. Perhaps the fascinating dynamics evoked by the book could be explored even further, with a more multifaceted approach, especially as it pertains to the issue of “Orientalism.” Venice and the Islamic World leads the reader down an intriguing path, and one wishes it would guide us even further.
