Around two hundred exhibits, including calligraphy, textiles, pottery, weapons, and metalwork, illustrated the art and daily life of six centuries of the Ottoman Empire.

It visited thirteen cities in the United States from 2000 to 2004, a period when Islam became especially controversial due to the September 11 attacks and the subsequent wars in the Middle East.

At the capital Constantinople, they created institutes to train and organise architects and artists, establishing distinctive Ottoman styles of architecture, manuscript illustration, and design.

[9][10][11] Islamic artists compensated for the restrictions on figurative art by using decorative calligraphy, geometric patterns, and stylised foliage known as arabesque.

[11] Sir Nasser David Khalili is a British-Iranian scholar, collector, and philanthropist who has assembled the world's largest private collection of Islamic art.

[37] Weapons on display included daggers, swords, and flintlock guns, many with inscriptions and fine decorative patterns created by damascening (inlaying gold and silver wires into a metal surface).

The display included tughras of Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II, Murad III, Ahmed I, Mehmed IV, Abdul Hamid I, and Abdulmecid I.

[46] In the late 16th century, the Ottomans used Iznik pottery, with its bold colours on white, to decorate imperial palaces and mosques.

Some of these followed a standard pattern with main text inside a central medallion and additional names and quotations in surrounding panels; others had unconventional layouts or textual inclusions.

[55] Some venues put on special events, including performances of Turkish music, film viewings, lectures, and demonstrations of calligraphy.

Reviewing the Geneva exhibition for the Financial Times, Susan Moore observed that "no other single collection outside Istanbul has the range of material" to put on such a wide-ranging overview of Ottoman culture.

[58] The Middle East magazine said the Brunei Gallery offered a "beautifully curated" show that "cleverly illustrates how art was an integral part of Ottoman daily life".

[59] The Columbian concluded from the Portland exhibition that "Nasser D. Khalili's collection of Islamic art treasures is so extensive it nearly brings the Ottoman Empire to life.

[60] Reviewing for the San Francisco Chronicle, David Bonetti found all the objects "at least interesting" and the best "gorgeous", naming the carpets and ceramics as highlights.

[63] Reviewing the London exhibition for The Times, John Russell Taylor found it a pity that some of the most interesting objects shown in Geneva had been excluded from the Brunei Gallery (usually for lack of space), but said that the somewhat reduced display still included "many real gems of significant art".

[65] Alan Riding in The New York Times described the calligraphy from the later years of the Ottoman Empire as "works of extraordinary delicacy".

[66] In The Oklahoman, John Brandenburg named the calligraphy section as the strongest part of the exhibition, saying that the "magnificent blend of art and science as well as military and cultural history" may require more than one visit to take in.

Describing the Brigham Young University exhibition as a "[p]art decorative art extravaganza, part cultural history lesson", The Salt Lake Tribune praised it for sharing the artistic culture of the Islamic world at a time when news mentions of Islam were dominated by war in the Middle East.

The Museum of Art's exhibition offers opportunities to enhance our understanding of Islam's rich and varied cultural history, as well as the events happening today.

[67] The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette saw the exhibition as an alternative both to the way Islam was being portrayed in news reports and to a romanticised view of the Arabic world as mysterious and distant.