Cartier's hidden debt to Islamic art unearthed in new exhibition

The two boxes, originally made for the court of Shah Abbas (1587-1629), the ruler of present-day Iran, had made their way into the collection of Louis Cartier by 1912

The Louvre’s acquisition of two exquisite ivory pen boxes in 2018 has sparked an entire exhibition on the hidden connections between the house of Cartier and the world of Islamic art. Cartier and Islamic Art: In Search of Modernity will run through February 20 at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs (MAD) in Paris, and then will travel to the Dallas Museum of Art, where it will be on view from May 14 to September 18, 2022.

The two boxes, originally made for the court of Shah Abbas (1587-1629), the ruler of present-day Iran, had made their way into the collection of