D’oh!*forehead slap* Yes, “Islamicate” was what I was thinking of.

Good question. As a student/alum, I was furious to hear about this. More Smith alums can say they took that course (and probably loved it) than any other. That said, from the faculty’s perspective, perhaps it was a lot more work than a usual teaching load (granted, I don’t actually know how it counted toward one’s teaching load). It was by far one of the best courses I took in college.

I think you mean “Islamicate”, like “Islamicate art”. “Islamdom” refers to the territory under Islamic rule, just like “Christendom”, I haven’t really heard people use it as in “Art of Islamdom”. For those who don’t know, “Islamicate” refers to stuff of all kinds, including stuff produced by non-Muslims, in a predominantly Muslim cultural context. I don’t see people using “Islamicate” that much, but for some reason “Persianate” (including stuff like Urdu literature, or Tibetan decorative art in an Iranian style) has caught on. But I think you can just read “Islamic” in cases like this museum as meaning “Islamicate”.

The book looks like something from the Timurid or early Safavid periods, say, 1400 – 1600.

And I second your recommendation, Hodgson’s books are a truly excellent.

I think the word they were looking for is “Islamdom”, which Marshall Hodgson uses in the magisterial The Venture of Islam, to describe a broad culture, united by religion but not defined completely by it—by analogy with “Christendom”, of course. I cannot recommend Hodgson’s books too highly: they give not merely a history of Islamdom, but an understanding.

P.D., thanks, I thought the mix of the arches with the contemporary skyscrapers in the background coupled with the folks up front worked out well.:)