PhD Disseration

My dissertation at the Bard Graduate Center, The Multifaceted History of The Brilliant Cut Diamond: From Sacred Solar Motif to Commercial Commodity, 1600- 1750 is an investigation into the Brilliant Cut diamond, today the most common shape of diamond cut in the world, merited to be the most perfect form to exploit the optical properties of the material.

My analysis centers around the recursive movement of knowledge, lapidary techniques, and rough and faceted diamonds that traveled between the Mughal Courts (1526-1858) of India and the cutting centers of Antwerp, Amsterdam, Paris and London. The new shape of the Brilliant Cut, with its round table and halo of radiating facets can first be seen in the jewels of the Mughal emperors in the mid-seventeenth century, where I argue that this creative form was a symbolic representation of the solar characteristic of the emperor.

Adopted into European fashion in the late seventeenth century, the Brilliant Cut became a proportioned, regulated form, transformed into a commodity with highly controlled methods of calculating its price point.

Conferences and Public Lectures

2025 “Messages in Minerals: Decoding Inscribed Islamic Gemstones,” HIAA (Historians of Islamic Art), Boston (April 2025)

2024 “A Cut Above: Diamond Faceting Styles at the Mughal Court,” Dunhuang Foundation Lecture Series, Rice University (September 6, 2024)

2024 “Adornments Across the Atlas: A Journey Through the Jewelry and Garments of North Africa,” Society for Asian Art Lecture Series (July 11, 2024)

2024 “Forging Beauty: Gemstone Simulants, Enhancements, and Fabrications from India and the Middle East.” Vitreous Alchemy Collective at Brown University and RISD (May 9, 2024)

2023 “Arabic and Indian Contributions to the Brilliant Cut Diamond” HIAA Majlis, (February 16, 2023)

2022 “Amulets and Adornments from Islamic Lands” Worcester Art Museum, “Master Series”, (In-person, May 22, 2022)

2021 “Islamic Art and Islamic Gardens” Belleville Gardening Club (Online, March 23, 2021) and Bath Gardening Club (Online, February 15, 2021)

2020 “Turkmen Treasures: Jeweled Arts from Central Asia“ San Antonio Museum of Art (Online, December 11, 2020)

2020 “Jeweled Arts from Islamic Lands” Spiekermann Travel Lecture Series (Online, November 29, 2020)

2020 “An Introduction to Islamic Art” Spiekermann Travel Lecture Series (Online, November 22, 2020)

2020 “The French Connection: Parisian Jewelers in the Islamic World” Islamic Art in Solitude (Online, November 5, 2020)

2020 “From Cordoba to Cartier: Jewels from the Department of Islamic Art” ; GemFlix (Online August 19, 2020)

2020 “Mystical Arts of the Sufis”; Islamic Art in Solitude (Online, July 16, 2020)

2020 “Talismans, Tattoos and Textiles from North Africa”; Islamic Art in Solitude (Online, June 11, 2020)

2020 “Jewelry in the Department of Islamic Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art”; Cartier Lab (Online, May 20, 2020)

2019 “Jewelry from Central Asia: Treasures from the Metropolitan Museum of Art”  ; The First International Handicrafters Festival, Kokand, Uzbekistan

2019 “The Diamond Exchange” ; MetSpeaks: Jewelry: Seen and Unseen. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York  

2015  “The Frame: Architecture and Design of Exhibitions of Islamic Art”  ; Forum on Contemporary Islamic Art, Design and Architecture, Singapore

2014  “Love and Poetry in Islamic Art” ; Sunday at the Met: Love Speaks: A Day of Art and Poetry from the Muslim World

2013 “Exhibiting Islam: Design and Architecture of Islamic Art Museums 1880-2013” ; Design History Society Conference, Ahmedabad, India 

2009 “(R)evolutions in Display: The Mevlânâ Museum of Whirling Dervishes”; Columbia University Conference on Collecting, New York, NY  

2008 “ ‘530 BC or Modern’: The Case of the Getty Kouros” ; Bard Graduate Center Student Symposium, New York, NY 

2007 “The Quest for Canadian Identity: Using Material Culture to Define a Nation” ; Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association, Boston, MA 

2006 “Wearing the Story: An Unraveling of Art Holmes War Correspondent Uniform” ; Textile Society of America Annual Symposium, Toronto, ON 

2005 “The Museum Experience: Exhibitions in Design Museums” ; Canadian National Design Conference, Toronto, ON 

Publications

Stewart, Courtney, “Jewels of the Maghreb,” New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (forthcoming, 2027)

Stewart, Courtney, “Banded Agate Fly Whisk” in Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2022-2024, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (forthcoming, 2024)

Stewart, Courtney “The Art of the Sufis” in Art = Discovering Infinite Connections in Art History. New York: Phaidon, 2020 

Stewart, Courtney “The Bride Bedecked” in Jewelry: The Body Transformed Ed. Melanie Holcomb. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Press, 2018 

Stewart, Courtney “Necklace and Earrings from Goa” in Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2016-2018, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018 

Haidar, Navina N, and Marika Sardar. Sultans of Deccan India, 1500-1700: Opulence and Fantasy. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015 (various catalogue entries) 

Stewart, Courtney “Treasures from India: Jewels from the Al-Thani Collection” Arts of Asia January-February 2015, Vol. 24, No. 1, Kowloon, Hong Kong: Arts of Asia Publications 

Haidar, Navina N, and Courtney A. Stewart. Treasures from India: Jewels from the Al-Thani Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014 

Timeline of Art History

Stewart, Courtney. “Art of the Sufis.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. (October 2018)

Stewart, Courtney. “Fatimid Jewelry.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. (February 2018)

Blogs

“Twelve Jewels: Indian Diamonds in History and Myth” , The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 26, 2018

“Remarkable Berber Jewelry at The Met” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 4, 2017

“Traveling to Morocco with The Met” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, April 26, 2017

“Seven Questions for Zarina Hashmi” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 9, 2017

“Branding through the Ages: The Tughra in Ottoman Art” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, March 29, 2016

“The Shahnama in Contemporary Iranian Art” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 27, 2015

“Opulence, Indeed: Diamonds of the Deccan” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 15, 2015

“Habshi and Sidi: Africans in the Deccan” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 1, 2015

“Feminine Power of the Deccan: Chand Bibi and Mah Laqa Bai Chanda” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 5, 2015

“Rites of Passage in the Indian Jewelry Tradition” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 21, 2015

“Exploring Hyderabad with Author and Historian William Dalrymple” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, April 23, 2015

“In the Stars: Gems and the Indian Tradition” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 17, 2014

Online Essays (selected)

Moroccan Amulet Ring, One More Thing Series, Bard Graduate Center

Pendant from Granada, Spain, 14-15th century, The Aga Khan Museum, (AKM954)

Badge of the Order of the Lion and the Sun, Iran, 1840-60, The Aga Khan Museum (AKM 627)

Oval Fatimid Ring, Egypt, 11th century, The Aga Khan Museum, (AKM597)

Round Fatimid Ring, Egypt, 10-11th century, The Aga Khan Museum, (AKM595)

Rectangular Fatimid Ring, Egypt, 10-11th century, The Aga Khan Museum, (AKM948.2)

Crescent and Palmette Shaped Fatimid Pedants, Egypt 10-11th century, The Aga Khan Museum, (AKM 594)

Amulet or Qur’an Box, Egypt, 11th century, The Aga Khan Museum (AKM 598)

Silver Armlets, Syria or Egypt, 11-12th century The Aga Khan Museum, (AKM600a, AKM600b)

Perfume or Snuff Bottle, India, 17-18th century, The Aga Khan Museum (AKM 891)