The Huntington Museum of Art will present an exhibit of Mamluk revival metalwork titled In the Shadow of the Mamluks through Nov. 1, 2026. This exhibit is curated from the Touma Near Eastern Collection at HMA and has come about through the generosity of Drs. Joseph B. and Omayma Touma and their family members.
This exhibit will be in the spotlight on July 28, 2026, from 6 to 8 p.m. when Dr. Joseph B. Touma leads a gallery walk and signs copies of his book, which is available for purchase in the Museum Store and includes artworks featured in this exhibit. Admission to this 4th Tuesday Tour Series Event is free. Refreshments will be served.
“Many people are aware of the Huntington Museum of Art’s Touma Near Eastern Gallery, which is a permanent display of art and artifacts,” said HMA Curator John Farley. “This particular exhibit is the result of a recent gift from the Touma family and emphasizes the importance of cultural heritage as well as the generous spirit and enduring legacy of Drs. Joseph B. and Omayma Touma and their family members.”
Visitors will be impressed with the skill needed to create the objects in the exhibit, Farley said. “These artworks, some of which are quite large and heavy, are strong examples of quality metalwork featuring fine engraving and metal inlays. It is easy to appreciate the skill of the artisans who created these works.”
The Mamluk Sultanate was a mighty and influential Islamic state from 1250-1517. Mamlūk is an Arabic word meaning “one who is owned.” In the Mamluk Sultanate, a system of military slavery produced elite armies of formerly enslaved men who were highly disciplined and fiercely loyal to the sultan.
In the mid-13th century, the Mamluks seized the fertile floodplains of Egypt and established control of the Levant, a geographic region along the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The Mamluk realm also encompassed the Hejaz, a geographic region along the western coast of the Arabian Peninsula. For more than two and a half centuries, the Mamluks controlled these strategically important lands.
Having halted the invading Mongols and expelled the last Crusaders, the Mamluks presided over a remarkably stable and prosperous era. Consequently, art and architecture flourished. In Cairo, Egypt, and Damascus, Syria, skilled artisans refined methods for engraving and inlaying metal objects with gold, copper, and silver – a technique called damascene. This dazzling metalwork became a distinctive artistic tradition in Mamluk society, prized far beyond the region. Production declined after the Ottomans conquered the Mamluk Sultanate in 1517. By the late-19th century, there was a movement to preserve decorative arts from the Mamluk period, and a market emerged for modern interpretations created in the style of those historical objects.
The Huntington Museum of Art thanks Drs. Joseph B. & Omayma Touma and their family members for making this exhibit possible.
This exhibit is presented with support from The Isabelle Gwynn and Robert Daine Exhibition Endowment.
This project is supported with financial assistance from the West Virginia Department of Tourism and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval of the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.
Graphic by Madison Manns.
