Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, July/August 2003, page 22

Special Report

 

Genghis Khan Exhibit Contrasts 1258 With 2003 Sacking of Baghdad

 

By Pat McDonnell Twair

The timing of the April 13 opening of "The Legacy of Genghis Khan" exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) couldn't have been more ironic. Even as this exhibition, grounded in the Mongol sacking of Baghdad, was unveiled in Southern California, TV sets throughout the world showed images of U.S. forces bombing the venerable old city, then guarding the Oil Ministry building instead of protecting cultural treasures from desperate Iraqis.

Six years in the making, the exhibition showcases cultural masterpieces that flowered following the Mongol conquest of western Asia. Nonetheless, the comparisons of devastating invasions 750 years apart were inescapable.

When the warriors of Hulagu, the grandson of Genghis Khan, crushed Baghdad in 1258, they threw so many precious books into the Tigris that its waters turned black with ink.

Whatever manuscripts survived Hulagu's pillage were carbonized on April 14, but similar masterpieces are on display in this unique exhibition. One such treasure is Kitab jami'al-tasanif al-Rashidi, copied by Muhammad ibn Mahmud al-Baghdadi.

More than 200 objects from 40 collections were assembled by co-curators Linda Komaroff of LACMA, who conceived the theme, and Stefano Carboni of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. The exhibition ran at the Met Nov. 5 to Feb. 16.

The grandsons of Genghis Khan established the Golden Horde in southern Russia, the Chaghatay principality in central Asia, and the Ilkhanid dynasty in western Asia. It is the latter, founded in Iran by Hulegu, that is the focus of this exhibition.

LACMA went to great lengths to recreate Islamic vaults and arcades to display the artistic achievements created in the aftermath of Mongol invasions. The nomadic roots of the Mongols are reflected in the reconstruction of the interior of a late 13th century royal Ilkhanid tent featuring panels of silk and gold woven textiles.

Another room shows photos of Takht-i Sulaiman, the sole surviving palace of the Ilkhanid period. Actual tile fragments from this late 13th century summer palace in northwestern Iran are displayed. An octagonal gallery replicating a salon in the palace is decorated with exquisitely fired interior tiles adorned with dragons and phoenixes or heroic figures.

A gilded saddle at the onset of the exhibition reveals the wealth of the victorious Mongol tribes. A large blue ceramic jar with molded decoration and Arabic writing dated to 1282-83 made this museumgoer wonder if the artisan who molded this masterpiece was from Raqqa, Syria. Had he been one of the craftsmen of the famed blue Raqqaware who were forcibly taken from their homes on the Euphrates to Mongol centers in the east?

This writer's favorite objects were two tiles of a camel and a horse hoofprint, dated circa 1312. Each was used as a foundation plaque for the Shrine of the Footprint of Ali outside Kashan, Iran. One circular tile bears the impression of a camel hoof and the other of a horse hoof; both are adorned with elaborate calligraphy and represent the camel and horse of Sayyid Fakhr al-Din Hasan Tabari.

The complexities of traveling through the vast Mongol territories are represented by a 10-inch long "passport" of cast iron and silver-inlaid metal bearing an inscription guaranteeing safe passage by edict of the emperor. Another glimpse of daily life is found in a metal pen case with an astrological motif.

There are marvelous gold basins, industrial-size candleholders and minuscule drawings of Ilkhanid court life which evolved into a genre known as Persian miniatures. As a people moving in seasonal tents long after their palaces were established, the Ilkhanids chronicled their daily happenings with small, quick-to-render drawings. These drawings reveal that Mongol women were relatively autonomous in their roles as weavers, milk maidens, cooks and even equestrians accompanying their men to battle.

Anyone planning to be in Los Angeles before July 27, is urged to run—not walk—to see this one-of-a-kind collection of Ilkhanid masterpieces before it is disassembled.

Pat McDonnell Twair is a free-lance writer based in Los Angeles.

< Prev		Next >