World renowned for its collection of Islamic art, the al-Sabah Collection in Kuwait also houses an important collection of ancient art. Splendors of the Ancient East presents a selection of ancient artefacts from the al-Sabah Collection, most of them reproduced for the first time. This selection is united by the personal vision of Sheikh Nasser Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah and his wife, Sheikha Hussah Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah. This vision is informed by a love of the beauty of these objects and an interest in the material culture of this region, from which grew some of the distinctive forms and design vocabulary of Islamic art. Covering a time span of some 4,000 years, from the Bronze Age up to the dawn of the Islamic era, this book celebrates some of the beautiful objects created in the Near East and beyond including Central and South Asia.

"Breath of Heaven, Breath of Earth: Ancient Near Eastern Art from American Collections" encompasses the geographic regions of Mesopotamia, Syria and the Levant, and Anatolia and Iran, and explores several broad themes found in the art of the ancient Near East: gods and goddesses, men and women, and both real and supernatural animals. These art objects reveal a wealth of information about the people and cultures that produced them: their mythologies, religious beliefs, concepts of kingship, social structures, and daily lives.

Trudy Kawami is director of research at the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation in New York. John Olbrantz is the Maribeth Collins Director of the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.