From early Islamic authority to Rasulid science and Red Sea routes.
Cover Arabia, Yemen, pilgrimage routes, early Islamic authority, and Rasulid metalwork.
Scope
Arabia and Yemen are essential to the site from the beginning of Islam through later Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and pilgrimage networks. Metalwork here includes coins, weights, weapons, jewelry, water vessels, pilgrimage-related objects, coffee culture, architectural fittings, and scientific instruments.
Yemen and scientific metalwork
Rasulid Yemen provides an important example of courtly science and craft. The Met astrolabe of Umar ibn Yusuf ibn Umar ibn Ali ibn Rasul al-Muzaffari, dated 1291 CE, connects princely authorship, instrument making, brass, silver inlay, pierced components, and inscriptions.
Routes and exchange
Arabia and Yemen link the Red Sea, Hijaz, East Africa, Egypt, Syria, India, and Southeast Asia. The regional page should explain how pilgrimage, trade, coffee, incense, textiles, and scholarly movement affected metalwork forms and techniques.
Featured Museum Examples
Astrolabe of Umar ibn Yusuf ibn Umar ibn Ali ibn Rasul al-Muzaffari
1291 CE, Yemen
The Metropolitan Museum of Art