Issued in connection with an exhibition held between 19 March-2 June 2012, Museum of Islamic Art, Doha.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The offering of Gifts - state, religious and personal - is a practice nearly as ancient and widespread as human culture itself. At courts throughout the Islamic world, the exchange of lavish gifts intimately linked art with diplomacy, religion and personal relationship. This beautifully illustrated book explorer the complex interplay between artistic production and gift-based patronage by discussing works of great aesthetic refinement that were either commissioned or repurposed as gifts. By following the unique histories of certain artworks, Komaroff reveals how t he exchange of luxury objects was central to the circulation, emulation and assimilation of artistic forms both within and beyond the Islamic world. She adds a new dimension to the understanding of Islamic art and culture from the eighth to the fifteenth century.