The relations between the Chinese and Islamic worlds have been centuries old and to capture the same, Louvre Abu Dhabi has organised a new exhibition— Dragon and Phoenix – Centuries of Exchange between Chinese and Islamic Worlds.

The exhibition, which is on till October 6, looks eastwards towards the Islamic worlds of Central Asia and along the trade routes to China has been organised in collaboration with the Musee National des arts Asiatiques –Guimet, popularly known as the Musee Guimet, in Paris.

The exhibition stages the rich and encrusted histories that lie between the Arabian Gulf and East Asia, through its empires, economic trade and religious exchange that took place between the 8th and 18th centuries.

The territories stretch from the Arab merchant communities in South-East Asia, and further down the coast of the South China Sea, to the Central Asian aesthetics that developed along the so-called Silk Road, both a maritime and land route.

One of the East-West exchanges is in ceramics and the exhibition shows how the resources were embellished by aesthetic influence, as ceramic-makers in China incorporated Islamic motifs in an artistic manner, which also had to meet the demand of Iranian and Islamic buyers further West.

The exhibition will also showcase connections between Chinese calligraphy, in paintings from the 15th to 17th centuries from the Musee Guimet, by artists such as Wen Zhengming, Dong Qichang, and Zha Shibiao, and Arabic crafting of the Quran.