A Jewish Tastemaker of Islamic Art and the Shaping of a Global Near Eastern Antiquities Market
- Author(s)
- Stein, Sarah; Marglin, Jessica
- Year
- 2026
- ISSN
- 1527-2028
- Journal
- Jewish Social Studies
Description
A thirst for art and antiquities from Iran seized collectors in Europe and the US during the interwar period, sparking "Persomania" on both sides of the Atlantic. Jewish dealers from Iran and the Middle East were crucial to the rise and flow of this global market, often serving as the unseen hands in Persian art and antiquities sales. These men (and some women) supported a market with imperialist roots that furthered and deepened evolving Iranian/Pahlavi nationalist myths. Yet their story has remained largely untold; the history of art from the Islamic world, like the history of modern Jews' involvement with the art market, has been dominated by the story of experts of European descent, wealthy collectors, and imperial or statist ambition. In this article we seek to recover the role of Middle Eastern Jews and other non-Muslims as tastemakers who shaped the appreciation, collection, and consumption of Persian and Islamic art, especially in the interwar period. We focus on Ayoub Rabenou, an Iranian Jew who rose from a small-scale middleman in Tehran to a supplier of treasures to powerful institutions and individuals across the world. Moving between Isfahan, Tehran, Paris, New York, Philadelphia, Honolulu, and Jerusalem, we consider why Jews like Rabenou emerged as crucial intermediaries in the booming Persian art and antiquities market; and we seek to broaden scholars' understanding of the nationalization of Islamic art and architecture in the twentieth century, extending this story to the Iranian landscape. Persomania, we argue, was not only a craze of the rich but a local, national, imperial, and global phenomenon made possible by Rabenou and his fellow Jewish, Christian, and Baha'i dealers.