The Artistic Brilliance of Central Asia Takes Center Stage at Sotheby’s
On October 29, Sotheby’s will host its Arts of the Islamic World and India sale, featuring a dazzling selection of manuscripts, ceramics, metalwork, and jewelry that together trace the creative reach of Central Asia across six centuries. The auction highlights how the region’s artists shaped Islamic visual culture from the early medieval period to the Timurid age.
Among the most important works is a rare page from the monumental Baysunghur Qur’an, produced around 1400 in Herat or Samarkand. Another piece connects to the earlier Samanid Dynasty, whose rule from Bukhara and Tashkent fostered a flourishing of calligraphic pottery in the ninth and tenth centuries. The Arab geographer al-Maqdisi once praised the “large bowls from Shash,” an early name for Tashkent, noting their reputation throughout the Islamic world.
A line from the ‘Baysunghur Qur’an’, attributed to ‘Umar al-Aqta, Herat or Samarkand, circa 1400; image: Sotheby’s
Two colorful Timurid mosaic tiles from the fourteenth or fifteenth century illustrate the architectural splendor of Samarkand and Herat. Their glazed patterns in cobalt, turquoise, and white once formed part of vast decorative panels in mosques and mausoleums. The geometric interlace and stylized foliage that define them became a visual signature of Timurid architecture, a style that spread from Central Asia to Persia and India.
A Golden Horde turquoise and pearl-set gold belt or necklace, Pontic-Caspian Steppe, 14th century; image: Sotheby’s
The Times of Central Asia spoke with Frankie Keyworth, a specialist in Islamic and Indian Art at Sotheby’s, for a closer look.
TCA: How did manuscripts like the Baysunghur Qur’an serve as symbols of power and faith in the Timurid court, and what does its immense scale – a Qur’an so vast it took two people to turn a page – reveal about the empire’s ambition, artistry, and self-image?
Keyworth: The manuscript was a hugely ambitious and challenging project, even just by the tools it would take to create, with monumental sheets of paper measuring 177 by 101cm., and a large pen whose nib would have to measure over 1cm. Displayed on a magnificent marble stand, the manuscript would be a staggering visual representation of the patron’s wealth and piety. Their subsequent use during public recitation reinforced the elite’s religious aspirations. The fact that this manuscript is unsurpassed by any other medieval Qur’an and remains so valued centuries after it was produced at the turn of the 15th century reveals the key role manuscripts played in the establishment of the Timurid dynastic image.
A Timurid brass jug (mashrabe), Herat, Afghanistan, 15th-early 16th century; image: Sotheby’s
TCA: A brass jug from Herat shaped like a Chinese vase, a ceramic bowl from Tashkent inscribed in Arabic script – these objects tell of traders, scholars, and artists linking worlds from Samarkand to Beijing long before globalization had a name. What can you tell us about how this trade transpired, and are there similarities to modern transport corridors?
Keyworth: Trade via the so-called Silk Road endured for centuries, and its role in the movement of works and the sharing of ideas has been well-documented. Diplomacy, patronage, and the movement and dispersal of artists as empires were created and fell, also resulting in artistic influence and exchange. Innovations in material and techniques allowed different centers to develop and apply their own stamp to forms derived from other regions. The Timurid jug, for example, displays a form associated with Ming pottery, but here it is transformed into a metalwork and adorned with the intricate floral ornament and calligraphy of the Timurid repertoire. It can also be related to examples in other media, such as the remarkable jade jug of Ulugh Beg, and, later, in Ottoman silverwork of the 16th century.
A parcel-gilt silver cup, Pontic-Caspian Steppe, Central Asia or Persia, 13th-14th century; image: Sotheby’s
TCA: On many items in the collection, the written word becomes the art itself. Curving naskh letters bless a silver cup, while bold Kufic script circles a Samanid bowl. Each inscription transforms an everyday object into something sacred. What messages of joy, faith, or poetry were meant to be read or simply admired centuries ago?
Keyworth: The inscriptions on such wares reveal the repertoire of aphorisms and poetry that would have been widely used and familiar to users at the time, such as a quatrain signaling the virtues of generosity by Ibn Mubarak on the Samanid bowl. The inscriptions here relate to the use of the bowl, displaying a message of literary refinement and generosity fitting of a generous host who would own such a luxurious article of tableware.
The inscriptions also reveal the relationships between different craftsmen, and scholars have compared the foliate stems and calligraphic cartouches on Timurid jugs such as ours with manuscript illumination, suggesting a dialogue between the metalworkers and Kitab-khaneh. The accomplished Kufic script around the Samanid bowl also shows an artist highly skilled in calligraphy.
Each work offered at Sotheby’s reflects a meeting ground of ideas and artistry. A picture is created of Central Asia and its cities, especially Samarkand and Herat, which became centers of invention connecting the Islamic world with China, India, and Byzantium. There, poets, scholars, and craftsmen turned geometry into art and faith into design, creating works that gave ideas visible shape and devotion lasting substance.
For historians, the significance of these objects lies in what they reveal about movement. Ideas, materials, and craftsmen travelled along trade routes that carried silk, gold, and paper; the same roads that brought goods from Xi’an to Constantinople also spread architectural forms, calligraphic styles, and decorative motifs.
The sale also reflects a broader shift in how museums and collectors view Central Asian art. Once treated as peripheral to Islamic culture, the region is now recognized as a driving force in its evolution. The restoration of monuments in Samarkand and Bukhara and new research into Timurid manuscripts have deepened understanding of how Central Asia influenced later Persian and Mughal art. Institutions such as the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha and the Louvre in Paris have expanded their collections of Central Asian material, underscoring its importance in the global story of Islamic civilization.
Two Timurid cut-mosaic tiles, Central Asia or Persia, 14th-15th century; image: Sotheby’s
The auction begins at Sotheby’s New Bond Street gallery in London at 10:30GMT on October 29, with bidding available online and in person. The full catalogue and sale details are available on the Sotheby’s website.
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