F. Leoni, M. Natif (eds.), Eros and Sexuality in Islamic Art, Ashgate, 2013

Eros and Sexuality in Islamic Art

Edited by Francesca Leoni (Ashmolean Museum, UK) and Mika Natif (Harvard Art Museum, USA)

Dedicated to the topics of eroticism and sexuality in the visual production of the medieval and early modern Muslim world, this volume sheds light on the diverse socio-cultural milieus of erotic images, on the range of motivations that determined their production, and on the responses generated by their circulation. The articles revise what has been accepted as a truism in existing literature-that erotic motifs in the Islamic visual arts should be read metaphorically-offering, as an alternative, rigorous contextual and cultural analyses. Among the subjects discussed are male and female figures as sexualized objects; the spiritual dimensions of eroticism; licit versus illicit sexual practices; and the exotic and erotic “others” as a source of sensual delight.

As the first systematic study on these themes in the field of Islamic art history, this volume fills a considerable gap and contributes to the lively debates on the nature and function of erotic and sexual images that have featured prominently in broader art-historical discussions in recent decades.

Contents:

Introduction: Eros and sexuality in Islamic art: old issues and new perspectives,
Francesca Leoni and Mika Natif;

Making love not war: the iconography of the cockfight in medieval Egypt,
Fahmida Suleman;

The generative garden: sensuality, male intimacy, and eternity in Govardhan’s illustration of Sa’di’s Gulistan,
Mika Natif;

Where have all the boys gone? The lady of the ‘sala de justica’ ceilings and Nasrid poetics of sacred and profane love,
Cynthia Robinson;

Visibly foreign, visibly female: the eroticization of the zan-i farangi in 17th-century Persian painting,
Amy S. Landau;

Frontiers of visual taboos: painted indecencies in Isfahan,
Sussan Babaie;

Ottomanizing pornotopia: changing visual codes in 18th-century Ottoman erotic miniatures,
Tülay Artan and Irvin Cemil Schick;

‘Not to toil in lonely obsession’: modern Persian erotica in the Kinsey Institute,
Christiane J. Gruber;

Index.

About the Editors:

Francesca Leoni is the Yousef Jameel Curator of Islamic Art, Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Oxford, UK.

Mika Natif is Assistant Curator of Islamic and Later Indian Art, Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art, Harvard Art Museums, USA.

Extracts from this title are available to view:

Full contents list

Introduction

Index

Infos:

• Imprint: Ashgate
• Illustrations: Includes 8 colour and 56 b&w illustrations
• Published: October 2013
• Format: 244 x 172 mm
• Extent: 272 pages
• Binding: Hardback
• ISBN: 978-1-4094-6438-9
• ISBN Short: 9781409464389
• Price: £60.00

http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781409464389