Court and Craft: A Masterpiece from Northern Iraq, Courtauld Gallery

An entire exhibition devoted to a handbag? Overtones of Lady Bracknell? Think again. The Courtauld Gallery’s Court and Craft: Masterpieces from Northern Iraq exhibition is a fascinating show centred on the history of a beautiful, enigmatic accessory thought to have made in around 1300 in the Iraqi city of Mosul, and seldom exhibited since. It’s the only item like it in the world – and it has an incredible story to tell. 

It’s belonged to the Courtauld’s collection since 1966 – a bequest from the family of Victorian art collector Thomas Gambier-Parry, and was for a long time thought to be a horseman’s saddlebag before it was realised that it probably belonged to a woman. An understandable slip-up, perhaps – after all, no other artefact like it is known to have survived. It’s brass, with a gold and silver inlay depicting intricate Islamic patterns spiralling outwards from a central scene in which a man and a woman sit on thrones, serenaded by a troupe of musicians, hunters and revellers. 

It’s not hard to see that this is an object of unparalleled quality - and whoever owned it certainly knew that, as it bears no sign whatsoever of having been used.

Curator Rachel Ward has set out to lift the lid on the piece itself – a much debated but rarely exhibited gem – as well as the cultural climate that brought it into being. The exhibition also hosts a wealth of illuminated manuscripts depicting women carrying similar bags (the only evidence that other examples did once exist) and an embarrassment of contemporary riches on loan from the V&A and the British Museum collections, which contextualise the region as a centre of luxury craftsmanship. 

The court of the Mongol Ilkhanid dynasty, to whom the bag is thought to have belonged, also takes centre stage as patrons of this new repertoire of crafts. A beautiful bespoke copy of the Qu’ran, made for the ruler Uljayto in 1310, is a highlight, as is an intricate incense burner made for his son Sultan Abu Said. 

The Courtauld does this kind of single-object exhibition very well indeed, and you’ll come away much enlightened about the cultural heritage of this part of the world. As well as all that, this is your chance to see the finest example of Islamic inlaid metalwork in existence – and it’s absolutely not one to pass up.

Admission: £6 / £5
Address and map: Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN
Nearest tube: Temple