Archive for August 20th, 2025

The HIAA (Historians of Islamic Art Association) Board is extremely sad to announce that Sheila Canby, former HIAA President 2014-2016, has passed away. Our thoughts are with her friends, family, and loved ones. Please see her obituary below, provided by her colleagues at the Department of Islamic Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art:

The Department of Islamic Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art mourns the loss of Sheila Canby, Curator Emerita and former Curator in Charge of the Department from 2009 to 2019. She was a scholar in the field of Persian art and culture, with a vibrant career as a museum professional. She received her BA from Vassar College and her MA and PhD from Harvard University.

Before joining The Met, Sheila Canby was Curator of Islamic Art and Antiquities at the British Museum and held curatorial and research positions at the Brooklyn Museum, Los Angeles County Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Fogg Art Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Her research and contributions to the field of Safavid art have left an enduring legacy. Throughout the course of her career Dr. Canby organized dozens of exhibitions and installations and authored numerous articles, encyclopedia entries, reviews and books. Her exhibitions and publications include: Princes, Poets and Paladins: Islamic and Indian Paintings from Collection of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan (1998); Rebellious Reformer: The Paintings and Drawings of Riza-yi Abbasi of Isfahan (1999); The Golden Age of Persian Art (1999); Islamic Art in Detail (2005), Shah Abbas: The Remaking of Iran (2009); The Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp: The Persian Book of Kings (2011); Hunt for Paradise; Court Arts of Safavid Iran,1501-1576 (2003), Court and Cosmos: The Great Age of the Seljuqs (2016) and Masterpieces of Islamic Art from the Farjam Collection (2024).

In 2012 Sheila Canby won the Farabi book award for The Golden Age of Persian Art. She served on the Board of the American Institute of Iranian Studies, on the Cultural Committee of Asia House in London, on the Council of the British Institute of Persian Studies, the Society for Iranian Studies, as well as on the Advisory Council of the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, and she was also a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society,

The Department of Islamic Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art