Memories from Afghanistan: The May and Rolando Schinasi Collection in the Israel Museum

This lavish book explores May and Rolando Schinasi’s superb collection of artifacts from Afghanistan. The collection focuses on Buddha figures, stone- and metalware, ceramic and glass vessels, oil lamps, and more, ranging from the 3rd century BCE to the 14th century CE, and also includes ethnographic items from the first half of the 20th century. Comprising illuminating essays by the Museum’s curators of Islamic Art and Archaeology, Asian Art, and Western Asiatic Antiquities, as well as an illustrated catalogue of the collection accompanied by short texts, the book marries the Schinasis’ lifelong passions – for archaeology and for Afghanistan. Gracing the entire volume are breathtakingly beautiful photographs of this fascinating land taken by Rolando Schinasi in the 1960s.