Cosmophilia: Islamic Art from the David Collection, Copenhagen
February 1 – May 20, 2007
Installation view
Cosmophilia—literally "love of ornament"—examined one of the most characteristic and attractive features of Islamic art.
Covering a millennium of Islamic history in regions extending from Spain to India, this comprehensive exhibition surveyed the extraordinary range and visual virtuosity of one of the world's great artistic traditions. Organized visually by theme, as opposed to chronologically or historically, the objects in the exhibition were grouped into five sections—figures, writing, geometry, vegetation-arabesque, and hybrids. The sections traced how artisans used major types of decorations and how these themes developed in different times and places.
Drawn from the David Collection in Copenhagen, Denmark, Cosmophilia offered a rare opportunity for audiences in the United States to study one of the finest collections of Islamic art, both secular and religious.