Early Shows and Sales of Islamic Antiques in Paris

Abstract

This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. Early displays of Islamic arts and crafts in nineteenth-century Europe are commonly associated with a set of shows that were held between 1885 and 1910 in London (Exhibition of Arab and Persian Art, 1885), Paris (Les Arts musulmans, 1893 and 1903), Stockholm (F. R. Martins Sammlungen aus dem Orient within the General Art and Industry exhibition, 1897), Algiers (Exposition d’art musulman, 1905) and Munich (Meisterwerke Muhammedanischer Kunst, 1910).1 These did not represent however the first or sole opportunities for direct exposure to artworks from the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa that were offered to European audiences during the age of empire, industry and spectacle. Every single Universal Exposition since 1851 presented objects from the region,2 whether they were the product of current craftsmanship or “curiosities” from the past – the common term then used for non-Western artworks.3 From the very beginning, shows devoted to applied arts, routinely described as industrial, ornamental or decorative in the sources, also hosted Islamic artefacts among their exhibits; alternative viewing was thus provided to those who had not travelled East. More