Arabian Horses

Fabric dye & acrylic on a ceramic jug, 30 x 20 cm, 1.500 Turkish Liras

Tales of Bedouin tribes and their beautiful horses go back millennia. Their legendary endurance resulting from being bred in a harsh desert climate was valued by their owners, and was a factor in the successful expansion of Islamic culture into Spain from North Africa and the Middle East—an important presence that lasted from 711 to 1492. The local defenders’ European horses were no match for the Arabian mounts of the first Muslim raiders.

Inspired by a 16th-century Persian miniature painting