(Jazz music playing) Hi. I am Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director of The Metropolitan
Museum of Art in New York. Welcome to Bank of
America's Masterpiece Moment. Today I would like
to talk to you about one of my favorite
works from our collection, the "Damascus Room," and tell you what inspires me and why I believe it
is truly a masterpiece. To me, one of the most
incredible things about The Met is that, walking through
the galleries, you can feel transported to different times
and places all over the world - perhaps nowhere more than
in the Museum's period rooms, which range from
an ancient Roman bedroom to a twentieth-century
living room designed by Frank Lloyd
Wright in Minnesota. So I am standing here
outside the "Damascus Room," which dates to 1707 from Syria, an important province
of the vast Ottoman Empire. Not only is it an
architectural jewel, but it is strikingly
well preserved and among the earliest
surviving rooms of its type. This space was designed
as a reception room, and one can easily
imagine that it was part of a monumental house of
a powerful, affluent family. The complex construction provided an elegant
atmosphere for welcoming guests into this remarkably
large setting, with its harmoniously
balanced proportions and refined decoration. Common for such reception rooms, called "qa'as," of its time, the space is divided
into two areas: a raised square seating
area, or "tazar;" and a small antechamber,
or "'ataba," with a door on the side. This door connects
the room with a large courtyard that commonly dominates
Syrian houses and around which spaces
and rooms are articulated. The opening from which
visitors view the room today in the museum would
originally have been a wall with a cupboard. The floors are paved in colorful
marble and other stones, while the wooden paneling
and ceilings of the room are elaborately decorated. These areas are worked
in luxurious gesso relief, called "'ajami," incorporating reflective
gold and tin leaf, transparent colored glazes
and bright egg tempera paints, now darkened over time, to create a variety
of surface effects. Poetic Arabic inscriptions along floral motifs are finely applied on the wood. And near the ceiling, polychrome glass set in stucco
form floral-patterned windows, which delightfully
filter the light. The art resides in
the fineness of the details, decoration or calligraphy, and the complexity
of the patterns, considered a high art form and characteristic
of Islamic art. The opulent
decorative repertoire and expensive materials suggest that
the "Damascus Room" was designed for the home
of a powerful merchant, to host his visitors or
other important male guests. Luxurious objects,
such as Eastern ware or fancy Chinese porcelain, would be displayed
in the built-in shelves -all aimed to impress the guests with Near Eastern hospitality. Imagine you are
among the audience, seated on the low cushions. You taste delicious appetizers
served in small bowls and presented on
a large round tray; you sip from a glass
of rose water, while listening to
a musical performance. The air is imbued with incense
or other enchanting perfume, and the sound of the water
resonates in the room. The flowers on the wall
recreate a virtual garden, blossoming all year long. The Arabic poetry decoration
recalls the Gardens of Paradise and invokes blessings for the
owner and the Prophet Muhammad. This luxurious chamber
thus becomes a metaphor for a heaven on earth, a place where all
the senses would engage and a welcome reprieve
from the hectic city. Damascus was
a bustling metropolis with a rich antique past
that stood out as a prosperous
commercial center on the Silk Road
and the route to Mecca. This room reflects
that cultural heritage. Records indicate that it came from a private house
in the area southwest of the famous Great
Mosque in Damascus, known for its splendid mosaics. In 1925, part of
this neighborhood was destroyed in a French
aerial bombardment aimed at suppressing
a Syrian resistance movement. The room was
probably salvaged from the wreckage
of the airstrike or from a later campaign to widen the narrow streets. By the early 1930s,
the room had been removed from its original setting and was sold to an
Armenian-American dealer, who brought it to New York. He added the fountain
in the lower antechamber, which is a couple of centuries
older from the Mamluk period. Made of opus sectile finely
cut mosaic stonework, it reflects the spirit
of such reception rooms, and particularly the ones
in noble residences, which include
a similar fountain. Period rooms like this
one have a unique power to evoke the spirit of an era and the people who once created
and inhabited these spaces. I hope you will have
a chance to visit The Met and experience your own
journey through time. I want to thank you for
taking the time to watch today and to learn more about
The Met's "Damascus Room." I encourage you
to join the conversation and discuss
this unique installation with friends and family. And please visit the Bank of America
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