Hidden gems in the Jameel Gallery V&A Blog [Video]

The Jameel Gallery at the V&A holds around 400 treasures from across the Islamic Middle East, produced between the 8th century and our own time. 

We invited four people with a strong link to art and design from the Middle East to select a hidden gem – an object that, for them, stands out from everything else in the gallery. 

All four are involved in the visual arts – as an artist, a ceramicist, a fashion designer and an architect – and we asked them to tell us how the piece they chose connects to their practice. 

Come and seek out these gems in the museum this summer!

Zelal Basodan is a ceramic artist from Saudi Arabia. She has chosen a spectacular 15^thcentury bowl with a ship sailing across the centre. The techniques used in its decoration are tin glaze and lustre, which lend it an iridescent sheen. Lustre was first applied to …