Damascus Room

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Damascus Room

Syria, Damascus, AD 1766–67/ AH 1180

Architecture; Architectural Elements

Wood (poplar) with gesso relief, tin and brass leaf, glazes and paint, plaster with stone paste inlays, and multicolored stones

Installation: 240 × 180 × 144 in. (609.6 × 457.2 × 365.76 cm)

Conservation of the room was organized in partnership with the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture; additional conservation support was provided by the Friends of Heritage Preservation (M.2014.33)

Art of the Middle East: Islamic and Contemporary

Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

Unlike fashionable residences in early modern Europe, the homes of the well-to-do in Ottoman-era Damascus had plain exteriors, within which were concealed elaborately decorated reception rooms that faced onto courtyards. The ornate stone courtyards provided a cooler living space during the hottest times of the year, while the lavishly bedecked reception rooms were used primarily in the winter months. With the modernization and growth of Damascus, many such historic homes were demolished, but occasionally their sumptuous interiors were spared. Several have found their way into museums not only in Damascus but also in Europe and the United States. In 2014 the Los Angeles County Museum of Art acquired this Damascus room dated AD 1766–67 / AH 1180, which had been dismantled intact from a courtyard home in the al-Bahsa quarter that was torn down in 1978 to make way for a road. The room has colorful stone floors, painted and carved wood walls, elaborate cupboard doors and storage niches, and an intricately inlaid stone wall fountain with a carved and glazed ceramic hood. The room was largely in its original state, with one of the best-preserved painted surfaces of any similar room of the period but covered with layers of dirt and grime. Brilliant pinks, oranges, blues, and greens have now been revealed in the conserved and reintegrated room.

Archival support provided by kölnprogramm GmbH & Co. KG and the Cologne Film Heritage Foundation. Visit YouTube at https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEQYvfHj56hTg_TxuRYQa21gdfTsKLau0&si=kw-WAlGH6s5DzyBs

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Bibliography

Komaroff, Linda. Beauty and Identity: Islamic Art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2016.
Komaroff, Linda. "A Damascus Room in Los Angeles." In The Making of Islamic Art: Studies in Honour of Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom, edited by Robert Hillenbrand, 117-37. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2021.

Komaroff, Linda. Beauty and Identity: Islamic Art from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2016.
Komaroff, Linda. "A Damascus Room in Los Angeles." In The Making of Islamic Art: Studies in Honour of Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom, edited by Robert Hillenbrand, 117-37. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2021.
Komaroff, Linda, editor. Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New York: DelMonico Books, 2023.
Komaroff, Linda. Collecting Islamic Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art: A Curatorial Perspective. Los Angeles: Art Catalogues; LACMA, 2017.
Komaroff, Linda. "Islamic Art Now and Then." In Islamic Art: Past, Present, Future, edited by Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom, 26-56. New Haven, New York, and London: Yale University Press, 2019.
"Acquisition of the Year: Acquisitions Shortlist." Apollo 182, no.637 (2015): 50-61.

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