From June, 23rd to September, 30th , precious Renaissance objects and furnishings, with a special focus on oriental pieces, will represent an opportunity to reveal the relationship between the court of Urbino and the Orient during the great season of the Montefeltro family, in a fascinating exhibition: “Il Montefeltro e l’Oriente islamico. Urbino, 1430-1550. Il Palazzo Ducale tra Occidente e Oriente”.

The director of the National Gallery of the Marche, Peter Aufreiter, and Alessandro Bruschettini, of the Bruschettini Foundation for Islamic and Asian art, wish to show how the Palazzo Ducale in Urbino, especially through its textile furnishings - primarily tapestries and carpets - was a place of unparalleled splendour in the time of Federico and the first Della Rovere period.

The palace rooms were undoubtedly furnished with refined oriental carpets, a sign of the taste for beauty expressed by the court of Urbino; the intention is to present a selection that respects the places of production and the chronology, placing them in what could have been their ideal locations. On exhibit, there will be a significant group of carpets contemporary to Montefeltro and Della Rovere, and from different production areas of the Islamic world: from Egypt to the Mediterranean East, Turkey and Persia.

Along with carpets, fine tapestries also decorated the rooms of the court: a rare example is the "Trojan War Series" – brought back specially, for the first time, to the rooms where Federico da Montefeltro had once admired the scenes - now preserved in Spain (other tapestries from the same series are found in various European and American museums).

An equally significant series of metal and ceramic works produced in Islamic countries, and textiles produced in Europe, will enrich the selection of objects chosen to propose the possible furnishings of the court of Urbino and re-evoke the refined complex culture of the era.

Finally, there will be a special focus on books. For the first time - in what was Federico’s library - a selection of precious manuscripts and oriental miniatures will be presented, with the aim of creating an ideal intellectual and aesthetic connection between the court of Urbino and the refined courts of the contemporary Islamic world, revealing a surprising affinity between exceptional “bibliophile princes”.

Among the carpets exhibited there will be also some important pieces lent by Gallery Moshe Tabibnia.