The Hispanic Society Museum & Library (HSM&L) is the primary institution and reference library in the United States dedicated solely to the art and cultures of Portuguese and Spanish-speaking countries and communities.

Founded in New York in AH 1322/1904 CE by the American scholar, philanthropist, and collector Archer Milton Huntington (AH 1286–1375/1870–1955 CE), the HSM&L reflects his passion and curiosity for Hispanic and Latin American art, cultures, and history in all of their diversity. The collection comprises over half a million works dating from antiquity to the present day, including paintings by El Greco, Velázquez, Rodríguez Juárez, Goya, Campeche, Arrieta, Sorolla, Orozco, and Tàpies, as well as sculptures by Pedro de Mena, Luisa Roldán, and Caspicara, and masterpieces in all areas of the decorative arts.

HSM&L holds an exceptional collection of Islamic art produced in al-Andalus, as well as later works that reflect its long influence and prestige. The collections of the Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books are among the most extensive of their kind outside of Spain. The organization has continued to collect and adapt to serve its local communities and the growing Hispanic and Latino populations in the United States.

HSM&L joins AlMadar with a presentation of some of its outstanding Islamic works from the 8th to 9th centuries AH/14th to 15th centuries CE, illustrating the principle of symmetry in art and design from al-Andalus with a marble capital and the surviving neck from one of the “Alhambra Vases” produced for the Nasrid court, as well as examples of ceramic lusterware made commercially by Muslim artists for Christian patrons in the ateliers of Manises, Valencia.

Vase neck from an “Alhambra Vase”

Archer Huntington acquired this neck from an “Alhambra Vase” in Paris in AH 1331/1913 AH. Only ten of these monumental vases have survived nearly intact, while several necks and other shards are also known. There is strong evidence that this neck belonged to the most impressive vase of all, a regal example that bore three Nasrid heraldic shields on each side with the dynastic motto “wa-la ghaliba illa Allah” (“there is no victor but Allah”). It was once installed at the entrance to the royal residence in the Comares Palace at the Alhambra and was described as being “of very fine clay and beautiful and exquisite workmanship.” Still intact in AH 1175/1762 CE, the vase was recorded in a beautiful watercolor by Spanish architect Diego Sánchez Sarabia of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid. Sánchez Sarabia undertook a major project to record the great Islamic monuments in Spain, published ultimately in AH 1201/1787 CE as the Antigüedades Árabes de España. The HSM&L neck, with its reddish molded elements, geometric and floral decoration, and circlet of lustered roundels, matches perfectly with the one recorded in the watercolor. In AH 1206/1792 CE, the vase was damaged in an earthquake, and its fragments were removed from the palace by AH 1250/1834 CE.