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”Art is an ocean of beauty without shores. It transcends all boundaries”

Professor Sir Nasser D. Khalili

Explore the Eight Khalili Collections

35,000 objects comprising of eight unique collections

The Khalili Collections

The Khalili Collections refers collectively to eight distinct art collections assembled by Professor Sir Nasser D. Khalili over a five-decade period. Together, the Collections comprise some 35,000 works of art. Each collection is on its own merit the largest and most comprehensive of its kind (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10):

A documentary covering the Collections titled Sleeping Giants was broadcast on Sky Arts in 2017 (1).

Collections

Islamic Art (700-2000)

The Khalili Collections holds one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of Islamic art (2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10). The Nasser D. Khalili Collections of Islamic Art includes 28,000 objects documenting arts from Islamic lands over a period of almost 1400 years. The Collection includes manuscripts of the Holy Qur’an, rare and illustrated manuscripts, album paintings, decorative arts of miniature paintings, bookbindings, lacquer, ceramics, glass and rock crystal, metalwork, scientific instruments, arms and armour, jewellery, carpets and textiles, coins and architectural elements.

Highlights include a 13th century saddle believed to belong to Gengiz Khan or one of his generals, an astrolabe commissioned by Shah Jahan (1648–58 AD), 10 folios the Shahnameh made for the Safavid Shah Tahmasp (1520 AD) and Rashid-al-Din’s world history, or Jami al-tawarikh (1314 AD).

Exhibitions drawing exclusively from the collection have been held at Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris and the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam as well as at many other museums and institutions worldwide.

The Wall Street Journal has said that it is the greatest collection of Islamic Art in existence (2). According to Edward Gibbs, Chairman of Middle East and India at Sotheby’s, it is certainly the best collection in private hands (3) and that the value of the collection is inestimable (4).

Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage (700-2000)

Alongside the Topkapı Palace museum, the collection is considered the largest and most significant group of objects relating to the cultural history of the Hajj (5). It holds objects and archival documents from all over the Islamic world, from the Umayyad period to the 21stcentury. It includes over 300 textiles and many other objects such as coins, medals, miniatures, manuscripts and photographs relating to Mecca and Medina. In total, the collection contains approximately 5,000 objects.

Highlights include a mahmal (AH 1067 (AD 1656–7)) commissioned by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet IV coverings for the door of the Kaaba curtains for the mosque of the Prophet in Medina, covering for the Station of Abraham, the earliest known accurate eyewitness account of Mecca and some of the earliest photographs taken of Mecca and the Hajj by Sadiq Bey.

Aramaic Documents (535BC-324BC)

The Collection comprises 48 historically significant Aramaic documents from Ancient Bactria, consisting of mainly letters and accounts related to the court of the satrap of Bactria. Together these letters and accounts make up the oldest known correspondence of the administration of Bactria and Sogdiana. The documents, written in Official Aramaic, were likely to originate from the historical city of Balkh and all are dated within a period of less than 30 years, between 353BC to 324BC. The newest of the documents were written during Alexander the Great’s early reign in the region.

Highlights include the first known document referring to Alexander the Great that uses the form ‘Alexandros’ (‘Iksndrs’), which he later became known as.

Japanese Art of the Meiji Period (1868-1912)

The Collection of Meiji decorative arts is only comparable as acknowledged by many scholars and museum directors, in terms of quality and size to the collection of the Japanese Imperial family (6). It comprises over 1,400 pieces, including metalwork, enamels, lacquer, textiles and ceramics. The Meiji period saw a cultural revolution in Japan where traditional tastes were met with international ones. Since the beginning of Emperor Meiji’s reign in Japan, European and international collectors have avidly sought pieces of Japanese art from this era. Many works in the collections were produced by Imperial Court artists and were exhibited at the Great Exhibitions of the late 19thcentury.

Highlights include works by imperial court artists Shibata Zeshin, Namikawa Yasuyuki, Makuzi Kozan, Yabu Meizan, Kano Natsuo, Suzuki Chokichi and Shirayama Shosai.

Exhibitions drawing exclusively from the collection have been held at the British Museum, Israel Museum, Van Gogh, Portland Museum, Moscow Kremlin Museums, and at many other museums and institutions worldwide.

Japanese Kimono (1700-2000)

The Collection represents three hundred years of the Japanese textile industry and contains over 450 garments. While the kimono’s T-shaped design hasn’t altered much over the centuries, the Collection reveals an astonishing variety of designs. The garments have been worn to demonstrate gender, age, status and wealth throughout Japan’s history. The core of the Collection is made up of kimono from the Edo (1603-1868), Meiji (1868-1912), Taisho (1912-1926) and early Showa (1926-1989) eras.

Swedish Textiles (1700-1900)

The Collection comprises mostly of textile panels, cushion and bed covers from the Scania region of southern Sweden, dating in the main from a hundred year old period of the mid-18thto mid-19thcenturies. The majority of the pieces in the Collection were made for wedding ceremonies in the region. While they played a part in the ceremonies, they were also a reflection of the artistry and skill of the weaver. Their designs often consist of symbolic illustrations of fertility and long life, inspiring a sense of hope and joy. The entire collection is made up of 100 pieces.

Exhibitions drawing exclusively from the collection have been held at the Swedish Cultural Institute in Paris and Boston University Art Gallery and the.

Spanish Damascene Metalwork (1850-1900)

One of the largest collections of its kind, the Spanish Metalwork Collection pays homage to the Zuloaga family, which played a major part in the preservation of damascening in Spain. The Collection contains some of the most important pieces created by Plácido Zuloaga between 1834-1910. Some of the pieces, such as a giant iron cassone, were originally acquired by the great 19th-century English collector, Alfred Morrison. The entire collection comprises of over 100 pieces, 22 of which are signed by Plácido Zuloga. The collection is said to be one of the best representations of Spanish metalwork art during the latter half of the 19th century.

At the opening of the Khalili Zuloago exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, its then Director Alan Borg said ‘it was a landmark in the study of 19thcentury Spanish decorative art’, (7). Other exhibitions also drawing exclusively from the collection have been held at the Also Fine Arts Museum in Bilbao and Alhambra Palace in Granada to name a few.

Enamels of the World (1700-2000)

The Collection consists of over 1300 pieces and showcases the global significance and evolution of enamelling of enamelling. The uniqueness of the Collection lies in its geographic, artistic and historical range. Highlights include the enamelled chariot belonging to the Indian Maharaja of Bhavnagarand a painted enamel throne table with the seal mark of the 18thcentury Chinese Qianlong emperor. Other objects include presentation chargers, jewellery, miniatures and ornamental pieces.

At the 2009-10 Enamels of the world exhibition held at the State Hermitage Museum, its Director Mikhail Piotrovsky said ‘unique in its scope, the Collection reveals the remarkable technical achievements of the enamallers and encourages a greater awareness of the range of their activity.’ (8)

Research and Publication

The Khalili Collections will be fully represented in a series of over 100 books, including exhibition catalogues, of which over 70 have already been published. The total costs associated with the conservation, research, scholarship and publication of the Collections is estimated to be in the tens of millions of pounds.

List of Khalili Publications

·      The Abbasid Tradition: Qur’ans of the 8th to the 10th centuries (Volume 1) 1992

·      The Master Scribes: Qur’ans of the 10th to 14th centuries (Volume 2) 1992

·      After Timur: Qur’ans of the 15th and 16th centuries (Volume 3) 1992

·      The Decorated Word: 
       Qur’ans of the 17th to 19th centuries (Volume 4) 1999

·      The Decorated Word: 
       Qur’ans of the 17th to 19th centuries (Volume 5) 2009

·      The Art of the Pen: 
       Calligraphy of the 14th to 20th Centuries (Volume 6) 1996

·      Bills, Letters and Deeds: 
       Arabic Papyri of the 7th to 11th Centuries (Volume 7) 1993

·      Learning, Piety and Poetry: 
       Manuscripts from the Islamic world (Volume 8) 2019

·      Paintings from India (Volume 9) 1998

·      Cobalt and Lustre: 
       The first centuries of Islamic pottery (Volume IX) 1994

·      A Rival to China: 
       Later Islamic pottery (2019)

·      A Rival to China: 
       Later Islamic pottery (Volume X) 2019

·      Brasses, Bronze and Silver of the Islamic Lands (Volume XI) 2019

·      Brasses, Bronze and Silver of the Islamic Lands (Volume XI, Part 2) 2019

·      Brasses, Bronze and Silver of the Islamic Lands (Volume XI, Part 3) 2019

·      Brasses, Bronze and Silver of the Islamic Lands (Volume XI, Part 4) 2019

·      Science, Tools & Magic: 
       Part One - Body and Spirit Mapping the Universe (Volume XII, Part 1) 1997

·      Science, Tools & Magic: 
       Part Two -  Mundane Worlds (Volume XII, Part 2) 1997

·      Seals and Talismans (Volume XIII, Part 1) 2020

·      Seals and Talismans (Volume XIII, Part 2) 2020

·      Textiles, Carpets and Costumes (Volume XIV, Part 1) 2019

·      Textiles, Carpets and Costumes (Volume XIV, Part 2) 2019

·      Glass: 
       From Sasanian antecedents to European imitations (Volume XV) 2005

·      Ornament and Amulet: 
       Rings of the Islamic Lands (Volume XVI) 1993

·      The Art of Adornment: 
       Jewellery of the Islamic lands (Volume XVII, Part 1) 2013

·      The Art of Adornment: 
       Jewellery of the Islamic lands (Volume XVII, Part 2) 2013

·      Gems and Jewels of Mughal India: 
       Jewelled and enamelled objects from the 16th to 20th centuries (Volume XVIII) 2010

·      Dinars and Dirhams: 
       Coins of the Islamic lands (Volume XIX, Part 1) 2019

·      Dinars and Dirhams: 
       Coins of the Islamic lands (Volume XIX, Part 2) 2019

·      The Arts of War: 
       Arms and Armour of the 7th to 19th centuries (Volume XXI) 1992

·      Lacquer of the Islamic Lands (Volume XXII, Part 1) 1996

·      Lacquer of the Islamic Lands (Volume XXII, Part 2) 1997

·      Occidentalism:
       Islamic Art in the 19th Century (Volume XXIII) 1997

·      Monuments and Memorials: 
       Carvings and tile work from the Islamic world (Volume XXIV) 2020

·      The Tale and the Image
       Part One: History and epic paintings from Iran and Turkey (Volume XXV) 2019

·      The Tale and the Image
       Part Two: Illustrated manuscripts and album paintings from Iran, Turkey and Egypt (Volume XXVI) 2019

·      A Compendium of Chronicles
       Rashid al-Din’s illustrated history of the world (Volume XXVII) 1995

·      The Khalili Portolan Atlas
       Facsimile edition with text: Piri Reis and Turkish mapmaking after Columbus, 1992

·      The Khalili Falnamah, 2019

·      Turcoman Jewellery, 2020

·      Selected Arabic Papyri (Volume 1), 1992

·      Piri Reis and Turkish Mapmaking after Columbus (Volume 2), 1996

·      Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan
       Part I: Legal and economic documents, 2012

·      Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan
       Part II: Letters and Buddhist texts, 2007

·      Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan - Part III: Plates, 2012

·      Arab-Byzantine Coinage (Volume VI) 2005

·      Arabic Documents from Early Islamic Khurasan (Volume V) 2007

·      Hajj and The Arts of Pilgrimage (A Series of 10 Volumes) 2020

·      Aramaic Documents from Ancient Bactria (Fourth Century BCE.) 2012

·      Meiji No Takara – Treasures of Imperial Japan: 
       Selected Essays (Volume I) 1995

·      Meiji No Takara – Treasures of Imperial Japan: 
       Metalwork (Volume II, Part 1) 1995

·      Meiji No Takara – Treasures of Imperial Japan: 
       Metalwork (Volume II, Part 2) 1995

·      Meiji No Takara – Treasures of Imperial Japan: 
       Enamel (Volume III) 1994

·      Meiji No Takara – Treasures of Imperial Japan: 
       Lacquer, Part One (Volume IV) 1995

·      Meiji No Takara – Treasures of Imperial Japan: 
       Lacquer, Part Two (Volume IV) 1995

·      Meiji No Takara – Treasures of Imperial Japan
       Ceramics - Part One: Porcelain (Volume V) 1995

·      Meiji No Takara – Treasures of Imperial Japan
       Ceramics - Part Two: Porcelain (Volume V) 1995

·      Meiji No Takara – Treasures of Imperial Japan
       Masterpieces by Shibata Zeshin (Volume VI) 1996

·      Japonisme and the rise of the modern art movement: 
       The Arts of the Meiji period (2013)

·      Kimono: 
       The Art and Evolution of Japanese Fashion (English edition) 2015

·      Kimonos: 
       L’art Japonais des motifs et des couleurs (French edition) 2015

·      Kimono: 
       L’arte del bello nella cultura giapponese (Italian edition) 2016

·      Images of Culture: 
       Japanese kimono 1915–1950 in the Khalili Collections, 2019

·      Swedish Textile Art: 
       Traditional Marriage Weavings from Scania (1996)

·      The Art and Tradition of the Zuloagas:
       Spanish Damascene from the Khalili Collection (1997)

·      Enamels of the World 1700-2000 (2009)

A selection of the (over 100) publications representing the Eight Collections

List of Authors and Contributors

Islamic art


General editor: 

Dr Julian Raby – Director of the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; leading authority on Islamic art

Editorial board: 

Professor Sir Nasser D. Khalili, Professor J.M. Rogers, Ralph Pinder-Wilson †, B.W. Robinson †, Robert Skelton, Nahla Nassar, Tim Stanley, Dr Rebecca M. Foote, Dr Pedro Moura Carvalho, Dr Mehreen Chida-Razvi

Authors and contributors:

Rudolf Abraham

Former Deputy Curator, Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London

David Alexander 

Former Research Associate, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; specialist in Islamic arms and armour

Manijeh Bayani 

Specialist in Persian and Arabic epigraphy; contributor to most of the catalogues in the Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art series

Professor Doris Behrens-Abouseif 

Former Nasser D. Khalili Chair of Islamic Art and Archaeology, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; specialist in Mamluk arts and history

Professor Sheila S. Blair 

Norma Jean Calderwood University Professor of Islamic and Asian Art, Boston College, Boston, Massachusetts; specialist in Persian arts

Dr François de Blois 

Senior Research Associate, University College London; specialist in Semitic and Iranian languages and on the history of religions in the Near East in pre-modern times

Christopher Cavey 

Former Curator, Gemmological Association of Great Britain collections and member of its governing council; special interest in the history of gemstones

Nada Chaldecott 

Art historian with a special interest in the arts of Central Asia and India

Dr Mehreen Chida-Razvi 

Deputy Curator and In-House Editor, Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art; Islamic art historian with a specialisation in Mughal art, architecture and material culture

Henrietta Sharp Cockrell 

Former specialist in the Islamic Art Department, Christie’s, South Kensington, London

Dr Steven Cohen 

Independent textile historian, researcher, lecturer and writer specialising in the carpets and textiles of the Indian subcontinent

Professor Anna Contadini 

Professor of the History of Islamic Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; specialist in Islamic works on paper

Georgette Cornu † 

Specialist in the technical analysis of textiles from the Arab world

Mitchell Abdul Karim Crites 

Art historian whose research primarily focuses on Mughal art, architecture and garden design; instrumental in a major revival of Indian and Islamic arts and cra s across West and South Asia

Jacqueline Coulter 

Formerly a Senior Director at Sotheby’s, London; specializes in carpets and textiles of the Islamic world

Professor Walter B. Denny 

Professor of Islamic Art, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Charles Grant Ellis Research Associate in Oriental Carpets, The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C.; specialist in Ottoman arts and Islamic carpets and textiles

Professor François Déroche 

Fellow of the French Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres; Director of Studies, Ecole pratique des hautes études, Paris; specialist in early Qur’ans and the history of the handwritten book in the Islamic world

Dr Layla Diba 

Former Director, Negarestan Museum, Tehran; former Hagop Kevorkian Curator of Islamic Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York; independent curator and art advisor, with a special interest in the arts and culture of Qajar and modern Iran

Shireen Ellinger

Special interest in art and architecture of the Mamluk period, especially textiles and metalwork

Dr Rebecca M. Foote 

Head of Publications, Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art; specialist in early Islamic archaeology

Deborah Freeman 

Former Assistant Curator, Al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait; specialist in Arabic and Persian manuscripts

Dr Melanie Gibson 

Participates in a range of academic activities that include teaching and publishing; series editor of the Gingko Library Art Series; specialist in ceramics and glass of the Islamic world

Dr Sidney M. Goldstein 

Former Associate Director, St Louis Art Museum, St Louis, Missouri; specialist in early Islamic glass

Dr Javad Golmohammadi 

Former Lecturer, Department of Archaeology and History of Art, Tehran University; independent Islamic art historian based in London working on a publication on wooden religious buildings and carved woodwork of Islamic Iran

Tony Goodwin 

Specialist in Byzantine and Islamic coinage of the 7th century

Hero Granger-Taylor 

Historian of early textiles, London; recent work centres on excavated nds, particularly from desert sites in Egypt and the Near East

Professor Ernst J. Grube † Professor Emeritus in the History of Islamic Art, Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia, Venice; rst Curator of Islamic Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; specialist in Islamic painting and ceramics

Dr Rosalind Wade Haddon 

Researcher on the Samarra Finds Project, Victoria and Albert Museum, London; specialist in Islamic ceramics of the 14th century

Stephen Hirtenstein 

Publications Director, Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society; co-founder of Anqa Publishing; specialist in the life, thought and writings of Ibn ‘Arabi

Rahul Jain 

Textile researcher and historian, New Delhi; specialist in technical and historical aspects of the Indian drawloom, the woven silks of Sultanate India, as well as court velvets, sashes and luxury fabrics of Mughal India

Dr David James 

Former Islamic Curator, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin; specialist in manuscripts of the Qur’an

Professor Ludvik Kalus 

Honorary Professor of the History of the Medieval East, University of Paris-Sorbonne; founder and director of the Thesaurus of Islamic Epigraphy project; specialist in Arabic epigraphy

Dr. Doron Lurie 

Senior Curator, 16th-19th Century Art, Tel Aviv Museum of Art,Tel Aviv, Israel

Dr Derek Kennet 

Lecturer, Department of Archaeology, Durham University; archaeologist working in India and the Middle East

Professor Sir Nasser D. Khalili 

Founder of the Khalili Collections; Honorary Fellow of the University of London; Visiting Professor, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Professor Geoffrey Khan 

Fellow of the British Academy; Regius Professor of Hebrew, Cambridge University; elds of expertise include Arabic papyrology

Dr Mark G. Kramarovsky 

Senior Researcher, State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg; archaeologist in the Crimea and authority on the arts of the Golden Horde

Dr Jens Kröger 

Former Curator, Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin; specialist in Islamic glass

Dr Linda York Leach 

Specialist in Indian painting; author of a major catalogue of the Indian paintings in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin

Mary McWilliams 

Norma Jean Calderwood Curator of Islamic and Later Indian Art, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University Art Museums; specialist in Safavid textiles

Francis Maddison 

Former Curator, Museum of the History of Science, University of Oxford; specialist in scienti c instruments and their makers

Roberta Marin 

Assistant Curator, Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art; tutor of the post-graduate Diploma in Asian Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Marielle Martiniani-Reber 

Chief Curator, Applied Arts Department, Musée d’art et d’histoire, Geneva; special interest in textiles of the Arab world

Behnaz Atighi Moghaddam 

Curator and research assistant at the Victoria and Albert Museum; specialist in calligraphy and painting from Iran and South Asia up to the 19th century

Dr Peter Morgan 

Former Director, British Institute of Persian Studies, Iran; research interests include Ilkhanid ceramics

Dr Pedro Moura Carvalho 

Former Deputy Director, Art and Programs, The Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; specialist in Mughal art and European contributions to the arts of India, Iran, Japan and China post 1500

Nahla Nassar 

Curator and Registrar, Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art and the Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage Collection; special interest in the history of Islamic pilgrimage-related textiles

Professor Alastair Northedge 

Professor of Islamic art and architecture, Université de Paris-Sorbonne, Paris; archaeologist specialising in early Islamic material culture

Dr Jack Ogden 

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries; former Chief Executive, Gemmological Association of Great Britain; specialist in the historical development of jewellery materials and techniques

Dr Alison Ohta 

Director, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland; specialist in the technique and ornament of Mamluk bookbinding

Dr Rachel Parikh 

Currently the Calderwood Curatorial Fellow of South Asian Art at Harvard Art Museums; specialist in South Asian and Islamic works on paper as well as arms and armour

Ralph Pinder-Wilson 

Former Keeper of the Department of Oriental Antiquities, British Museum, London; specialist in the arts of Iran, India and Afghanistan

B.W. Robinson 

Former Fellow of the British Academy; former Keeper of Metalwork, Victoria and Albert Museum, London; specialist in Islamic painting and the arts of Qajar Iran

Professor J.M. Rogers 

Fellow of the British Academy; Honorary Curator, Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art; Former Deputy Keeper of the Department of Oriental Antiquities, British Museum, London; inaugural Nasser D. Khalili Chair of Islamic Art and Archaeology, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; specialist in many aspects of Islamic culture and history, especially Seljuk and Ottoman arts

Dr Martina Rugiadi 

Assistant Curator, Department of Islamic Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; specialist in Ghaznavid stonework

Dr Nabil F. Safwat 

Former Lecturer, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; specialist in Islamic calligraphy and the arts of the book

Professor Emilie Savage-Smith 

Fellow of the British Academy; Professor of the History of Islamic Science, Oxford University; specialist in Islamic science, medicine and magic

Dr Emily Shovelton 

Independent researcher and lecturer, currently tutor for the Islamic Art module at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; specialist in illustrated Persian and Indo-Persian manuscripts

Dr Eleanor Sims 

Editor, Islamic Art for the East-West Foundation, New York (originally Co-editor with her late husband, Professor Ernst J. Grube); special expertise is eastern Islamic painting

Professor Nicholas Sims-Williams 

Fellow of the British Academy; Research Professor of Iranian and Central Asian Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; specialist in Middle Iranian languages of Eastern Iran and Central Asia, including Sogdian and Bactrian

Robert Skelton 

Former Keeper of the Indian Department, Victoria and Albert Museum, London; specialist in the arts of India

Milton Sonday 

Former Curator of Textiles, Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York; specialist in the structures and continuous patterns of textiles of all cultures

Professor Svat Soucek 

Professor Emeritus of History, Princeton University, New Jersey; specialist in historical cartography

Michael Spink 

Independent researcher, lecturer and writer on Islamic and Indian art; Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain

Tim Stanley 

Senior Curator, Middle Eastern collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, London; specialist in Islamic manuscript production, calligraphy and the decorative arts and has a longstanding interest in Ottoman culture

Professor Wheeler M. Thackston 

Professor Emeritus of the Practice in Persian and Other Near Eastern Languages, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Dr Cristina Tonghini 

Lecturer in the History of Islamic Art, Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia, Venice; archaeologist in Syria and specialist in its Islamic ceramics

Dr Elena Tsareva 

Leading researcher, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St Petersburg; specialist in textiles and costume of northern Eurasia

Dr Aram R. Vardanyan 

Curator of Islamic coins in the History Museum of Armenia as well as a senior scienti c researcher in the Institute of Oriental Studies NAS in Yerevan; specialist in Islamic coinage and history

Dr Stephen Vernoit 

Former Assistant Professor, Al-Akhawayn University, Ifrane, Morocco; former Lecturer, Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, Durham University; specialist in the art and cultural history of the Islamic world in the 17th–20th centuries

Marie-France Vivier 

Head of the Magreb section, Musée du quai Branly, Paris; specialist in North African textiles

Dr Marian Wenzel † 

Islamic art historian with a special interest in Islamic jewellery

Dr Elaine Wright 

Curator of the Islamic Collections, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin; specialist in Islamic manuscript production

Mohamed Zakariya 

Distinguished contemporary calligrapher, now working in Washington, D.C.

Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage


Qaisra Khan

Independent curator; Joint editor of ‘Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage’ in the Khalili Collections

Curator and Registrar, Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art and the Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage Collection; special interest in the history of Islamic pilgrimage-related textiles

Dr Venetia Porter 

Curator, Department of the Middle East, British Museum, London

Professor Sir Nasser D. Khalili 

Founder The Khalili Collections Honorary Fellow of the University of London; Visiting Professor, Department of Art and Archaeology, School of Oriental and African Studies, London

Dr Bilal Badat

Dr Sami De Giosa

Ms Shireen el Kassem

Professor Sir Nasser D. Khalili

Mr Seif El Rashidi

Dr Sabiha Gologlu

Professor Alastair Hamilton

Dr Edmund Hayes

Ms Qaisra Khan

Dr Jan Loop

Dr Michael Christopher Low

Dr Sergio Carro Martín

Professor Ulrich Marzolph

Professsor Richard McGregor

Dr Luitgard Mols

Dr Harry Munt

Ms Nahla Nassar

Mr James Nicholson

Mr Seif el Rashidi

Mr Yousuf Saeed

Mr Saarthak Singh

Dr John Slight

Dr Mehmet Tütüncü

Dr Aram Vardanyan

Dr Arnoud Vrolijk

Dr Muhammad Isa Waley

Dr Peter Webb

Mr Michael Wolfe

Aramaic Documents

Joseph Naveh 

Former Professor Emiritus of West Semitic epigraphy and palaeography, Hebrew University, Jerusalem

Shaul Shaked 

Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies and Comparative Religion, Hebrew University, Jerusalem

Japanese art of the Meiji period


Joint editors: Dr Oliver Impey and Malcolm Fairley 

Svetlana Amelekhina 

Head of the Textile Department at the Moscow Kremlin Museums

Tayfun Belgin 

Director of the Osthaus Museum, Hagen, Germany

John House 

former Emeritus Professor, Courtauld Institute, London

Dr Oliver Impey 

Senior Curator, Ashmolean Museum; Reader in Japanese Art, University of Oxford

Malcolm Fairley 

Formerly of Sotheby’s and Barry Davies Oriental Art; now co-owner of the Asian Art Gallery, London

Matthi Forrer 

Curator for Japanese Arts at the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, the Netherlands

Professor Sir Nasser D. Khalili 

Founder The Khalili Collections Honorary Fellow of the University of London; Visiting Professor, Department of Art and Archaeology, School of Oriental and African Studies, London

Feodor Pan lov 

Researcher at the Moscow Kremlin Museums

Axel Rüger 

Director of the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Kris Schiermeier 

Director of the Japan Museum SieboldHuis, Leiden, the Netherlands

Hiroko Yokomizo 

Associate Professor (Curator), Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music

Honorary Advisers 

Dr Barbara Ford 

Associate Curator of the Department of Eastern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

B.W. Robinson † 

Former Keeper of Metalwork, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Lawrence Smith 

Former Keeper of the Department of Japanese Antiquities, British Museum, London

Dr Gunhild Avitable 

Director of the Japan Society Gallery, New York; former Curator of Far Eastern Art, Museum of Applied Art, Frankfurt-am-Main

Ellen P. Conant 

Independent art historian, New York

Joe Earle 

Senior Consultant for Japanese Works of Art, Bonhams, London; former Director of the Japan Society Gallery, New York and Chair of the Department of the Art of Asia, Oceania and Africa, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

Dror Elkvity 

Curator of the Japanese, Enamel, Spanish, Swedish and Aramaic collections

Dr Rupert Faulkner 

Senior Curator, Japan, Asian Department, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Goke Tadaomi 

Former Professor, Faculty of Domestic Sciences, Kyoritsu Women’s University

Victor Harris 

Former Keeper of the Department of Japanese antiquities at the British Museum, London

Hida Toyojiro 

President, Akita University of Arts; Curator, Cra s Gallery, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

Jack Hillier † 

Renowned art historian and author of many publications on Japanese art

Dr Janet Hunter 

Saji Professor of Economic History, London School of Economics

Julia Hutt 

Curator, Japan, Asian Department, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Greg Irvine 

Honorary Curator of the Japanese art of the Meiji period in the Khalili Collection; Senior Curator, Asian Department, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Anna Jackson 

Keeper of the Asian Department, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Major Andrew Keelan 

Former Chief Coordinator of the Khalili Collection

Professor Sir Nasser D. Khalili 

Founder The Khalili Collections Honorary Fellow of the University of London; Visiting Professor, Department of Art and Archaeology, School of Oriental and African Studies, London

Clare Pollard 

Curator of Japanese Art, Department of Eastern Art, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; former art historian and Curator of the East Asian collections at the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin

Sato Doshin 

Former Professor of Japanese art history, Faculty of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts

Vibeke Woldbye 

Former Curator, Danish Museum of Decorative Arts, Copenhagen

Edward Wrangham † 

Author and collector of Japanese lacquer specialising in inro

Yamazaki Tsuyoshi 

Professor of History and Cra , Kanazawa University of Arts; former Curator at the Fine Arts Division of the Agency for Cultural A airs of Japan; former Curator, Osaka City Museum

Japanese Kimono


Dr. Jacqueline M. Atkins

Art historian with a special interest in Japanese textile history

Professor Kendall Brown 

Professor of Asian Art, California State University, Long Beach

Dr Christine Guth 

Asian Specialism Tutor, Royal College of Art, London

Professor Iwao Nagasaki 

Kyoritsu Women’s University, Tokyo

Anna Jackson 

Keeper of the Asian Department, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Professor Timon Screech 

Professor of the History of Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Swedish textiles


Viveka Hansen

Sti elsen Institutet for Kulturforskning, IK Foundation

Spanish Damascene


Dr James D. Lavin 

Former Professor of Spanish, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia

Ramiro Larrañaga † 

Former master engraver and damascener; Basque historian and author

Claude Blair † 

Leading authority on European armour

Enamels of the World


Julia Clarke

Deputy Director and Senior Specialist, Objects of Vertu, Sotheby’s

Tatiana Fabergé 

Member of the Fabergé Heritage Council, and great- granddaughter of Peter Carl Fabergé

Malcolm Fairley 

Formerly of Sotheby’s and Barry Davies Oriental Art; now co-owner of the Asian Art Gallery, London

Dr Oliver Impey † 

Senior Curator, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Reader in Japanese Art, University of Oxford

Rose Kerr 

Former Keeper of the Far Eastern Department, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Daniela Mascetti 

Senior Director, International Senior Specialist, Jewellery, Sotheby’s

Dr Pedro Moura Carvalho 

Former Deputy Director, Art and Programs, The Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; specialist in Mughal art and European contributions to the arts of India, Iran, Japan and China post 1500

Dr Jack Ogden 

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries; former Chief Executive, Gemmological Association of Great Britain; specialist in the historical development of jewellery materials and techniques

Professor J.M. Rogers 

Fellow of the British Academy; Honorary Curator, Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art; Former Deputy Keeper of the Department of Oriental Antiquities, British Museum, London; inaugural Nasser D. Khalili Chair of Islamic Art and Archaeology, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; specialist in many aspects of Islamic culture and history, especially Seljuk and Ottoman arts

Haydn Williams 

Former Head of Portrait Miniatures, Objects of Vertu and Russian works of art, Sotheby’s

† Deceased

Exhibitions

International exhibitions drawn exclusively from the Khalili Collections

Islamic art

Empire of the Sultans: Ottoman Art from the Khalili Collection

  • July–Sep 1995 Musee Rath, Geneva, Switzerland
  • July – Oct 1996 Brunei Gallery, School of Oriental and African Studies, London, UK
  • Dec 1996 – June 1997 Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
  • Feb – Apr 2000 Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, Florida, USA

Marvels of the East: Indian Paintings of the Mughal Period from the Khalili Collection

  • May–July 2000,Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel

Empire of the Sultans: Ottoman Art from the Khalili Collection

  • July – Oct 2000 Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan, USA
  • Oct 2000 – Jan 2001 Albuquerque Museum of Art & History, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
  • Jan – Apr 2001 Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, USA
  • Aug – Oct 2001 Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
  • Oct 2001–Jan 2002 Bruce Museum of Arts and Science, Greenwich, Connecticut, USA
  • Feb–Apr 2002 Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
  • May – July 2002 North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
  • Aug 2002–Jan 2003 Museum of Art, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA

Ornements de la Perse: Islamic Patterns in 19th Century Europe

  • Oct–Dec 2002 Leighton House Museum, London, UK

Empire of the Sultans: Ottoman Art from the Khalili Collection

  • Feb – Apr 2003 Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
  • May – Aug 2003 Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
  • Aug – Nov 2003 Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon, Georgia, USA
  • Nov 2003–Feb 2004 Frick Art and Historical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

The Arts of Islam: Treasures from the Nasser D. Khalili Collection

  • June – Sep 2007 Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
  • Jan – May 2008 Gallery One, Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi, UAE
  • Oct 2009 – Mar 2010 Institut du monde arabe, Paris, France

Passion for Perfection: Islamic Art from the Khalili Collection

  • Dec 2010 – Apr 2011 Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Japanese Art

Japanese Imperial Craftsmen: Meiji Art from the Khalili Collection

  • Sep 1994 – Jan 1995 British Museum, London, UK

Treasures of Imperial Japan: Ceramics from the Khalili Collection

  • Oct 1994 – Jan 1995 National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, UK

Shibata Zeshin: Masterpieces of Japanese Lacquer from the Khalili Collection

  • Apr – Oct 1997 National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh, UK

 Splendors of Meiji: Treasures of Imperial Japan

  • Apr – Oct 1999 First USA Riverfront Arts Centre, Wilmington, Delaware, USA

Shibata Zeshin: Masterpieces of Japanese Lacquer from the Khalili Collection

  • Oct – Nov 1999 Toyama Sato Art Museum, Toyama, Japan
  • Nov 2000 – Mar 2001 Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim, Germany

Splendors of Imperial Japan: Arts of the Meiji Period from the Khalili Collection

  • June – Sep 2002 Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, USA

Splendors of Imperial Japan: Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection

  • Sep 2004 – Feb 2005 Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel

Wonders of Imperial Japan: Meiji Art from the Khalili Collection

  • July – Oct 2006 Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Meiji-Kunst & Japonismus: Aus der Sammlung Khalili

  • Feb – June 2007 Kunsthalle Krems, Krems, Austria

Beyond Imagination: Treasures of Imperial Japan from The Khalili Collection, 19th to early 20th century

  • July – October 2017 Moscow Kremlin Museums, Moscow, Russia

Spanish Damascene Metalwork

Plácido Zuloaga: Spanish Treasures from The Khalili Collection

  • May 1997 – Jan 1998 Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK

El Arte y Tradición de los Zuloaga: Damasquinado Español de la Colección Khalili

  • May–Aug 2000 Museo de Bellas Artes, Bilbao, Spain
  • Feb – Apr 2001 Alhambra Palace, Granada, Spain
  • May – Sep 2001 Real Fundacion de Toledo, Toledo, Spain

Plácido Zuloaga: Meisterwerke in gold, silber und eisen damaszener–schmiedekunst aus der Khalili-Sammlung

  • Apr – Aug 2003 Roemer und Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim, Germany

Metal Magic: Spanish Treasures from the Khalili Collection

  • Nov 2011 – Apr 2012 Auberge de Provence, Valletta, Malta

Swedish Textiles

Swedish Textile Art: The Khalili Collection

  • Feb–Mar 1996 IK Foundation, Pildammarnas Vattentorn, Malmo, Sweden

Textiles de Scanie des XVIII et XIX Siècles dans la Collection Khalili

  • Mar – May 2000 Swedish Cultural Centre, Paris, France

A Monument to Love: Swedish Marriage Textiles from the Khalili Collection

  • Sep – Oct 2003 Boston University Art Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Enamels of  the World

Enamels of the World 1700–2000 from the Khalili Collection

  • Dec 2009 – Apr 2010 State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia

Loans to museums and galleries

Jan – Apr 1992               Jüdische Lebenswelten, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany

Nov 1993 – Mar 1994          Worlds Beyond: Death and Afterlife in Art, Cartwright Hall, Bradford, UK

Oct – Nov 1997               The Quick and the Dead: Artists and Anatomy (a touring exhibition organized by the Hayward Gallery for the Arts Council),Royal College of Art, London, UK

June – Sep 1998              Corps à vif: art etanatomie, Musee d’art et d’histoire, Geneva, Switzerland

Oct 1998 – Jan 1999          Royal Persian Paintings: The Qajar Epoch 1785–1925, Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, New York, USA

Feb – May 1999               Royal Persian Paintings: The Qajar Epoch 1785–1925, Armand Hammer Museum of Art, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

July – Sep 1999              Royal Persian Paintings: The Qajar Epoch 1785–1925, Brunei Gallery, School of Oriental and African Studies, London,UK

Nov 1999 – Feb 2000          Orakel: Der Blikin die Zukunft, Museum Rietberg, Zürich, Switzerland

Dec 1999 – Apr 2000          Earthly Beauty, Heavenly Art: The Art of Islam,Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam, Netherlands 

May – Oct 2000               La Beauté in natura, Avignon, France

June 2000 – Sep 2001         Earthly Art, Heavenly Beauty: The Art of Islam, State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia

Sep 2000 – June 2001         Have a Nargileh: Water-pipes from the Islamic World, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel

Sep 2000 – Feb 2001          Fabergé: Imperial Craftsman and His World, River Front Arts Center, Wilmington, Delaware, USA

Jan –Mar 2001                Court and Conquest: Ottoman Origins and the Design for Handel’s “Tamerlano” at the Glimmer glass Opera, Brunei Gallery, School of Oriental and African Studies, London, UK

Oct 2001 – Apr 2002          Pearls: A Natural History, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York, USA

Oct 2001 – May 2002          Spirit Of Islam: Experiencing Islam through Calligraphy, Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Oct 2001 – Mar 2002          L’Orient de Saladin au temps des Ayyubides, Institut du monde arabe, Paris, France 

July – Nov 2002              The Nature of Diamonds, Midland Center for the Arts, Midland, Michigan, USA 

June 2002 – Jan 2003         Pearls: A Natural History, Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Oct 2002 – Feb 2003          The Legacy Of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia, 1256–1353, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, USA

Nov 2002 – Mar 2003          Chevaux et cavaliers arabes dans les arts d’orient et d’occident, Institut du monde arabe, Paris, France

Nov 2002 – Apr 2003          The Art of Love: Love’s Lust and Sorrow in World Art, Museum Rietberg, Zürich, Switzerland

Apr – July 2003              The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia, 1256–1353, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, USA

Oct 2003 – Jan 2004          Hunt for Paradise: Court Art of Safavid Iran, 1501–76, Asia Society and Museum, New York, New York, USA

Mar – June 2004              A caccia in Paradiso: Arte di corte nella Persia del Cinquencento, Museo Poldi Pezzoli and Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy

Mar – Aug 2004               Heaven on Earth: Art From Islamic Lands – Selected objects from the Khalili Collection and The State Hermitage Museum, Hermitage Rooms, Somerset House, London, UK

June – Sep 2004              Goa and the Great Mughal, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation,Lisbon, Portugal

Oct – Dec 2004               Asia, Body, Mind, Spirit, Brunei Gallery, School of Oriental andAfrican Studies, London, UK

Oct 2004 –Jan 2005           Asian Games: The Art of Contest, Asia Society and Museum, New York, New York, USA

Nov 2004 – Mar 2005          The Jews of Europe in the Middle Ages, Historisches Museum Der Pfalz, Speyer, Germany

Dec 2004 – Apr 2005          Iraq and China: Ceramics, Trade and Innovation, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA

Feb – May 2005               Asian Games: The Art of Contest, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA

Apr – Aug2005                The Jews of Europe in the Middle Ages, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, Germany

Sep – Dec 2005               Asian Games: The Art of Contest, Middlebury College Museum of Art, Middlebury, Vermont, USA

Oct 2005 –Mar 2006           L’Aged’or des sciences arabes, Institut du monde arabe, Paris, France

May – Sep 2006               Ibn Khaldun, The Mediterranean in the 14th century: Rise and Fall of Empires,Real Alcazar, Seville, Spain

Sep 2006 – Feb 2007          East-West: Objects Between Cultures, Tate Britain, London, UK

Oct 2006 – Feb 2007          Venise et l’Orient 828 – 1797, Institut du monde arabe, Paris, France

Mar – July 2007              Moments of Vision: Venice and the Islamic World, 828 – 1797, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, USA

July – Nov 2007              Venezia e l’Islam 828 – 1797, Palazzo Ducale, Venice, Italy

Feb – June 2009              Shah ‘Abbas: The remaking of Iran, British Museum, London, UK 

Mar – Jun 2010               The Indian Portrait: 1560–1860, National Portrait Gallery, London, UK

Sep 2010 – Jan 2011          Epic of the Persian Kings: The Art of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, Mellon Gallery, Fitzwil- liam Museum, Cambridge, UK

Oct 2010 – Mar 2011          Al-Mizan: Sciences and Arts in the Islamic World, Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, UK

Dec 2010 – Feb 2011          India’s Fabled City: The Artof Courtly Lucknow, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, USA

Jul – Sep 2010               Kyoto–Tokyo: from Samurai to Manga,Grimaldi Forum, Monaco

Apr – July 2011              Une cour royale en Inde: Lucknow (XVIIIème –XIXème siècle), Musée national des arts asiatiques-Guimet, Paris, France

June – Sep 2011              Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, USA

Oct 2011 – Jan 2012          Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA

Jan – Apr 2012               Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam, British Museum, London, UK

Mar – June 2012              Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts, Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar

Sep – Dec 2012               Bronze, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK

Sep 2013 – Mar 2014          Longing for Mecca: The Pilgrim’s Journey, Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde, Leiden, Netherlands

Oct – Dec 2013               The Everlasting Flame: Zoroastrianism in History and Imagination, Brunei Gallery, School of Oriental and African Studies, London, UK

Feb – May 2014               Court and Craft in Medieval Mosul: A Masterpiece from Northern Iraq, Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK

Mar – Jun 2014               Kings and Pawns: Board Games from India to Spain, Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar

Apr – Jul 2014               India: Jewels that enchanted the world, Moscow Kremlin Museums, Moscow, Russia 

Apr – Aug 2014               Hajj: le pèlerinage à La Mecque, Institut du monde arabe, Paris, France

Sep 2014 – Jan 2015          Sacred Places, Sacred Books, Museum Aan de Stroom, Antwerp, Belgium

Sep 2014 – Jan 2015          Ming: 50 Years that changed China, British Museum, London, UK

Oct 2015 – Jan 2016          The Fabric of India, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK

Apr –Sep 2016                Jardins d’Orient: De l’Alhambra au Taj Mahal, Institut du monde arabe, Paris, France

Apr – July 2016              Court & Cosmos: The Great Age of the Seljuqs, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Apr – Aug 2016               Sicily:culture and conquest, British Museum, London, UK

Sep 2016 – Jan 2017          Jerusalem 1000–1400: Every People Under Heaven, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Oct 2016 –Jan 2017           Power and Protection: Islamic Art and the Supernatural, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK

Nov 2016 – Feb 2017          Aventuriers des mers: de Sindbad à Marco Polo. Méditeranée – Océan Indien, Institut du monde arabe, Paris, France

Apr  – July 2017             Trésors de l’Islam en Afrique de Tomboctou à Zanzibar, Institut du monde arabe, Paris, France

June – Oct 2017              Aventuriers des mers: de Sindbad à Marco Nov Polo. Méditeranée – Océan Indien, Musée des civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée (MuCEM), Marseiile, France

Sep 2017 – Mar2 018          Hajj: Memories of a Journey, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Oct 2018 –Jan 2019           Splendours of Imperial Japan, Guimet Museum, Paris, France

Oct 2018 – Jan 2019          Fabric of India, The Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Oct 2018 – Feb 2019          Relieken, Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Feb 2019 – Jan 2020          Longing for Mecca, Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Digitisation

Khalili Digitisation Project

Over a period of three decades, the Khalili Collections has undergone a major digitisation project in order to make the Collections more accessible to the general public. The majority of the approximately 35,000 works in the collections have been photographed (and in some cases filmed) in high definition; these digital assets are sued for a variety of projects such as publication and catalogues, exhibitions, websites, social media campaigns and other digital initiatives.

Google Arts and Culture

In 2018, the Khalili Collections partnered with the Google Cultural Institute to optimise its digitisation project and to launch its own page on the Google Arts and Culture platform, planned for launch in 2019. The Khalili Collections is exploring a number of projects with Google on how to leverage the latest advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning and high-definition technology to optimise the digital experience relating to its collections.

 

REFERENCES:

1 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HC5hmABcAQ

2 – Andrew Mckie, From an article: The British Museum’s Pilgrimage, The Wall Street Journal, January 27, 2012

3 -Edward Gibbs, Chairman, Sotheby’s Middle East and India, June 2014

4 – Letter from Edward Gibbs, Chairman, Middle East and India, Sotheby’s, London June 2006

5 – Edward Gibbs, Chairman, Sotheby’s Middle East and India, June 2014

+ Baroness Valerie Amos, Director of SOAS, University of London, Holy Makkah, A Celebration of Unity (First, 2017)

+ Irina Bokova, Director-General,  UNESCO, Holy Makkah, A Celebration of Unity, (First, 2017)

6 – Dr. Helena Gagarina, General Director Moscow Kremlin Museums – Extract from the forward of the catalogue, Beyond Imagination Treasures of Imperial Japan from the Khalili Collection 19th to Early 20th centuries, July 2017

+ Museums by John Russell Taylor, The Times, 12 November 1994

7 – Dr Alan Borg, Director, Victoria & Albert Museum, on the occasion of the opening of the Zuloaga exhibition, 1997

8 – Professor Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, December 2009

9 – Edmund Capon, AM,OBE, Director NSW Gallery, Sydney, Australia, 2007

10 – William Green, Bloomberg Magazine, May 2010

Discover more at The Khalili Collections Website
By Sir David Khalili

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