Displaying more than 200 items from the collection, the main focus of this book is on the creativity of Muslim artisans and their talent to transmit the aesthetic potential of everything from the mundane to the magnificence of the Word of God. Whether the artefacts are from the Malay Peninsula, Spain or Sub-Saharan Africa, the collection aims to represent the full breadth of Islamic civilisation. It is a culutre of dazzling range and diversity. At the same time, the universality of certain principles becomes evident when works of so many different origins are placed alongside each other.