Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2015 - Humanities — Art & Architecture — Middle Eastern Studies

This splendid new book by one of the leading scholars of Islamic art manages that most difficult taskmaking a serious contribution to scholarship while being accessible to a wide range of readers and attractive to them.  It is not a survey but five case studies: a 10th-century ceramic bowl, a 12th-century copper alloy rosewater sprinkler, a 14th-century tomb, a 15th-century manuscript painting, and a 16th-century carpet.  Blair (Boston College; Virginia Commonwealth Univ.) beautifully describes and analyzes each in its immediate and its broadest historical context.  Each object works like a pebble thrown into water, producing expanding circles of related objects, people involved in its manufacture and commission, and later works in its tradition or directly reflecting it in some way.  The stories are diverse but fascinating and often end with consideration of the works in todays world.  The writing is clear and accessible.  Scholars will appreciate the many new insights and remarkably rich and current bibliography.  The many illustrations, most in color, are of splendid quality.  Individual chapters or the book as a whole would be suitable for use in college courses.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals/practitioners.