February 10–July 17, 2016
The Hagop Kevorkian Fund Special Exhibition Gallery, Gallery 458
In the early 20th century, the arts of medieval Iran and Syria attracted unprecedented interest in the West. Demand by museums, collectors, and dealers—especially for figural and highly decorated works—led to the custom of repairing, filling in, and overpainting fragmentary and deteriorated examples in order to enhance them. Opening February 10 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the exhibition Transformed: Medieval Syrian and Iranian Art in the Early 20th Century will consider the legacy of such practices 100 years later as it compares archaeological artifacts with objects that were refurbished, imitated, or forged. Some three dozen works will be displayed.
The exhibition is made possible by The Hagop Kevorkian Fund.
For a variety of reasons, most examples of medieval art from Iran and Syria—often unearthed in a fragmentary state—underwent a level of restoration in the last century that would be highly unusual today. Collectors demanded complete and ornamented works, so dealers had a ready market for objects that were highly repaired and augmented. Today, although such practices raise questions of faking and forging, the repairs are considered part of the history of the object. Through the collaborative work of contemporary conservators, scientists, and art historians, such interventions can be detected, the context for the repairs can be understood, and the full history of the object can be revealed.
Specialists in Islamic art and conservation will report on their discoveries in Ruminations, the blog of the Met’s Islamic Art Department.
The exhibition was organized by Martina Rugiadi, Assistant Curator, Department of Islamic Art.
The exhibition will be featured on the Met’s website, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via the hashtag #TransformedMedievalArt.
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February 9, 2016
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