COLLECTION

Two traditions determine the make-up of most private collections today. One is that of the connoisseur, who gathers together a few select items on the basis of their aesthetic merit. The other is the philatelic approach, where the emphasis of the collector is on assembling complete series of objects.

The Khalili Collection is remarkable in that it combines both these traditions within an overall scheme. In striving to provide a synoptic vision of the arts of the entire Islamic world, Professor Khalili has revived the heroic age of collecting. Since the 1970's Professor Nasser D Khalili has been assembling his historic collection of Islamic art. This he has done under the auspices of The Khalili Family Trust. With holdings of more than 20,000 objects documenting the range of artistic production of the Islamic lands over a period of some 1,400 years, the Collection now ranks among the best in the world.

The Khalili Collection represents a new generation of Islamic art collections. Its holdings include an outstanding array of miniature paintings and illustrated manuscripts, and the coverage of the decorative arts - ceramics, textiles, glass, metalwork and others - is comprehensive. In this it fulfils the longstanding Western conception of what is important in Islamic art, but the Collection has not been overly influenced by this essentially alien, and distorted, view. On the contrary, it was formed with an acute awareness of the criteria by which Muslims themselves have judged and still judge their art. As a result a central place has been given to the art of calligraphy, which plays an essential role in the art of the Islamic world.

The Khalili Collection's holdings of manuscripts of the Holy Qur'an, for example, are the first to have been assembled systematically in order to illustrate the whole history of Qur'an production, both in terms of timespan and geographical range - from the 8th century AD to the 20th century, and from Morocco to China. The result is a fascinating and diverse body of material, and one that is united by the honour paid by patrons, scribes and craftsmen to the Word of God as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.

Similar sequences have been assembled for the decorative arts and for painting. Glass and metalwork, for example, are represented in the full range of techniques over a period that runs from Late Antiquity, through the heyday of Islamic production in the Medieval period, to the 19th century. Miniature painting is represented by masterpieces from the Mongol period onwards, such as those from the 14th-century Compendium of Chronicles of Rashid al-Din; the Book of Kings made for Shah Tahmasp, ruler of Iran in the 16th century; the Life of the Prophet commissioned by the Ottoman sultan Murad III and completed in 1595; album paintings by the 17th-century master Mu'in Musavvir; and an extensively illustrated Book of Divination produced in the Deccan in the same period. This mass of material is important in its own terms, but it also provides a visual context for the other items in the Collection.

Later Islamic art has not enjoyed the same level of attention as Islamic art of the Medieval period, and the 19th century has also been neglected. Yet, through its wealth of important objects and manuscripts from later periods, the Khalili Collection is able to show that much art worthy of our attention on aesthetic as well as historical and intellectual grounds was produced in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The touchstone is again calligraphy, which reached a summit of excellence in 19th-century Istanbul that has hardly been matched in any other civilization. Another important art form of this period is Islamic lacquer, represented in the Collection by 500 and more examples. Through these works one can trace the history of this art from its definitive technical formulation in the late 15th century, through the great stylistic changes of the 17th century, until production all but ceased after the fall of the Qajar dynasty in 1924.

Two traditions determine the make-up of most private collections today. One is that of the connoisseur, who gathers together a few select items on the basis of their aesthetic merit. The other is the philatelic approach, where the emphasis of the collector is on assembling complete series of objects. The Khalili Collection is remarkable in that it combines both these traditions within an overall scheme. In striving to provide a synoptic vision of the arts of the entire Islamic world, Professor Khalili has revived the heroic age of collecting.

ISLAMIC COLLECTION

DOOR HANDLES

MTW1407-1428

Pair of door handles cast in copper alloy, each in the shape of two intertwined dragons whose tails end in a bird's head.

Jazira (Northern Mesopotamia or South-east Anatolia) early 13th century
height 35cm (each)
BOWL WITH INSCRIPTION

POT0850

Earthenware bowl with slip-painted decoration including an inscription in foliated Kufic script, 'Generosity is the disposition of the dwellers of Paradise.'

Eastern Iran, Nishapur 10th century
diameter: 25.6cm
TEXTILE WITH PALMETTES IN LOTUS MEDALLIONS

TXT0229

Ilkhanid silk brocade with palmette trellis design. tabby, with supplementary weft, gold thread on strips of leather or parchment, originally on a coral-red ground.

Mamluk Egypt or Ilkhanid Iran 13th century AD
42.5 x 43cm
CALLIGRAPHIC WORKS

CAL0154

Calligraphic composition in gold on a tobacco leaf, with the basmalah ('In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful') written in thulth script.

Undated
14.3 x 11.5cm
COINS - MUGHAL

AST0009

Sagitarius; gold muhur, from Jahangir's zodiac series

Agra ah 1032; regnal year 17
FOLDING BACKGAMMON BOARD

LAQ0284

Lacquer-painted folding backgammon board, attributed to the court painter Muhammad Hasan. opaque watercolour and varnish on wood. The playing surface is made of three hinged wooden boards with lobed feet, which fold up and interlock to form a rectangular box when the board is closed. The principal decoration is on the cruciform area separating the four ‘tables’. Framed by elaborate borders, it consists of medallions of various shapes, four of them enclosing couples in European dress, one a couple in Iranian dress and one a woman nursing a child. At the centre is a rich bouquet of flowers. The only known dated portrait by Muhammad Hasan, who worked principally in oils, is a miniature of Fath‘ali Shah enthroned of 1234 AH (1818-19 AD).

early 19th century
69 x 45cm x 11.2 cm (open)
CALLIGRAPHIC WORKS

CAL0165

Calligraphic composition in red on a horse chestnut leaf, with a Qur'anic verse in thulth script. The text, part of verse 64 from surah Yusuf (xii), reads: 'But God is the best to take care [of him], and He is the Most Merciful of those who show mercy!

Ottoman Turkey 19th century
length 24.5cm
SECTION FROM A CHASUBLE

TXT0129

silk lampas with silver thread on a silk foundation. A chasuble is a long sleeveless outer vestment worn by a priest when celebrating Mass. The lattice pattern is formed by pairs of split palmettes with cloud tendrils, which neatly engage the spear-like points of the medallions that fill the interstices. The medallions are edged with blue florets and filled with slender blossoms.

Bursa 16th century AD
135 x 66cm
CELESTIAL GLOBE

SCI0021

Celestial globe, engraved with a full set of constellation figures and the position of some 1024 stars, made by Muhammad ibn Mahmud al-Tabari. The globe is cast in two halves, and the star positions marked in silver inlay. A 5-line signature, situated near the south pole of the instrument states, somewhat inaccurately, that it was based on the illustrations in the 10th century astronomer, al-Sufi’s Book of the Fixed Stars (Kitab suwar al-kawakib al-thabitah) adapted to take account of the 200-year lapse of time and rectifying errors of placement and spelling and that the maker had written the identifications of the various constellations of the Zodiac, fixed stars, lunar mansions, and of some non-Zodiacal constellations as well.

Iran dated AH 684 (AD 1285-6), making this the sixth earliest surviving globe
diameter: 13.4cm
TURBAN CROWN

JLY1071

diamonds, natural pearls, foiled rubies (genuine and synthetic) and emeralds, green glass; gold, enamelled gold and silver mounts, gold thread and silver strips; core of wood or papier-mâché covered with maroon velvet The combination of turban and crown symbolised the bond between religious and secular leadership in the Muslim world, especially on the Indian sub-continent, where the Mughal emperors and their princely vassals boasted of a long tradition of jewelled turbans. The present crown is similar to that worn by Sir Jang Bahadur, prime minister and commander-in-chief of Nepal from 1856 to 1877, and to others subsequently worn by the ruling family of the kingdom.

Kathmandu 19th century AD
18 x 23 x 24cm
PART 29 OF A 30-PART QUR'AN

QUR0974 fol 1 det

Illuminated frontispiece with ornamental script, from a 30-part Qur'an. This is an early specimen of a type of Qur’anic manuscript with its roots in eastern Iran, produced by the Huihui, or Chinese Muslims, under the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Khanbaliq (Beijing) dated 1401
24.5 x 17.5cm
TWO WANDERING DERVISHES

MSS0619

Two wandering dervishes. Probably the most striking feature of this large-format study, a version of a Chinese genre painting of the Yuan period showing Buddhist holy men (lohans), is the gold jewellery worn by the two figures, including earrings, a torque, belts, anklets and even an archer’s thumb-ring. It contrasts strikingly with their homely apparel and footwear, which, like their shaven heads and branded ritual markings, suggest spiritual poverty and identify them as wandering dervishes (qalandars).

most probably Tabriz later 15th century AD
48.6 x 37.5cm
PORTRAIT MINIATURE OF THE QAJAR RULER, FATH'ALI SHAH

JLY1231

Enamelled gold miniature portrait of the Qajar ruler Fath 'Ali Shah, signed by the royal painter Baqir, who worked in enamels as well as lacquer. Compared to life-sized portraits of him, this miniature depicts Fath‘ali Shah as markedly fuller-faced and with a much shorter beard, but his continuous eyebrows - in Qajar art, a mark of male, as well as female, beauty - are immediately recognisable. Instead of the Kayanid crown he invented, he wears a tall astrakhan hat decorated with an aigrette in the form of an early 17th-century Mughal turban pin, doubtless booty from the Mughal treasury in Delhi.

Iran Early 19th century AD
6.2 x 4.4cm
PAIR OF EARRINGS WITH PENDANT CHAINS

JLY1725

Pair of Fatimid granulated gold filigree crescent earrings (shown front and back).

Egypat or Syria 10th or11th century AD
4.1 x 3.1cm (each)
A GIRL WITH AN INDIAN HEADDRESS

MSS1000.2

Young woman with Indian headdress, signed by the painter Mu'in Musavvir, from a copy of Firdawsi's Shahnamah.

Isfahan dated 1648
20.5 x 10cm (within gold rules)
EMERALD CIRCULAR BOX

JLY1857

This spectacular box is made of no fewer than 103 emeralds set in the 16 slightly convex rectangular panels of the walls and the 16 curving triangular panels that make up the lid. An identical cypress is carved on each panel. The apex bears a diamond with 24 visible facets. The underside of the box is engraved with a many-petalled lotus in translucent emerald-green enamel. Similar boxes made of various precious materials appear in Indian miniatures from the early 17th century on. They could have been for medicines (including opium, a Mughal panacea) or to hold even more precious objects, such as uncut diamonds. PMC

Mughal India circa 1635
4 x 5cm
SPOON

MXD0253

Jade spoon, carved in the shape of a rolled lotus leaf. The superb design and delicacy of the carving illustrate the virtuosity of the master lapidaries of the Shah Jahan period (r1628-57). The bowl and stem are carved from a single jade block, and the finial from a separate piece. The perceptible bend in the handle is in fact a skilful means of reinforcing what would otherwise have been an extremely fragile object.

Mughal India Mid 17th century AD
14.8 cm (length)
MOSQUE LAMP

GLS0572

Mosque lamp with gilded and enamelled decoration, including blazons of the Mamluk Sultan Barquq and a Qur'anic verse (the opening part of ayat al-nur, or 'Verse of Light'). the Lamp enclosed in Glass’. This is broken by three roundels with the heraldic blazon of Sultan Barquq, the Circassian usurper of the Bahri Mamluk dynasty in 784 AH (1382 AD), in the form of an inscription. The body bears a slightly more elaborate version of the same inscription in bold script.

Egypt 15th century AD
height: 33cm; max diameter: 25cm
KHIZR AND ELIAS DISCOVERING THE WATER OF LIFE, WATCHED BY ALEXANDER

MSS0979 fol 9b

A Selection of paintings from the Khalili Falnamah ('Book of Divination'); Khizr and Ilias discovering the water of life, watched by Alexander ('The Great')

Deccan (Golconda) circa 1610 - 30
folios: 41 x 28.4cm; paintings: 30.3 x 21cm
DISH

POT1649

Safavid dish, painted in cobalt blue and black under a transparent glaze. The Buddhist lion in reserve on a ground of dense foliage and cloud scrolls is characteristic of the Chinese Kraakporselein exported for the European market. The cavetto bears a Persian quatrain incised in black slip advising the owner to be content with the worldly goods he has.

Iran late 17th century AD
6.5 x 33 cm (diameter)
JONAH AND THE WHALE

MSS0727 fol 59a

Jonah and the whale, from the Khalili portion of the Jami' al-Tawarikh ('Compendium of Chronicles' or - as it is sometimes known - 'The World History') of the Ilkhanid vizier Rashid al-Din. This is the earliest surviving Arabic copy of the celebrated text. It survives in two portions, one in the Khalili Collection, the other in the University Library, Edinburgh. The Khalili portion contains sections on the Prophet Muhammad and the early Caliphate; the Chinese emperors India; and the history of t

Tabriz early 13th century AD
45 x 43 x 47.5cm
INCENSE BURNER OR POMANDER IN THE FORM OF A LYNX

MTW1525

This lynx seems to be pawing the ground, as if about to jump up and catch its prey on the wing, as is the habit of lynxes. The lines at the eyes indicate that the animal is smiling. The impracticality of using the tail as a handle and the inconvenience of replenishing the incense when it was full of hot coals make it more probable that this vessel was a pomander, filled with a paste of ambergris and spices to scent the air, and only requiring occasional refilling.

Iran late 12th - early 13th century
27 x 27 x 8.7 cm
QUR'AN

QUR0950 det

Detail of an illuminated page from part 7 of a 30-part Mamluk Qur'an

probably Cairo 14th century
16 x 16cm (detail shown)
FLORAL CARPET

TXT0191

Safavid wool pile carpet with an all-over pattern of flowers and leaves

perhaps Kirman 17th century AD
591 x 244cm
HORSE TRAPPINGS AND SADDLE FITTINGS

MTW0795

Gold Saddle fittings and horse trappings. saddle plaques: gold sheet, worked in repoussé, with chasing and engraved details; trappings: silver sheet, worked in repoussé and gilt.

Central Asia or inner Asian frontiers of China circa 1200 AD
29.7 cm (max height)
RECTANGULAR CASKET WITH THE REMAINS OF A COMBINATION LOCK

MTW0850

Brass casket with silver-inlaid decoration consisting of figural scenes and arabesques, the lid retaining four dials from a combination lock.

Jazira (Northern Mesopotamia) first half of the 13th century.
20.5 x 19.5 x 16 cm
CHAMFRON WITH CHEEK-PIECES

MTW0995

Chamfron (armour for a horse's face) and cheek-pieces. The steel chamfron is set decorated with silver-gilt appliqués and set with jade, carnelian, agate and coloured glass. These materials are characteristic of the decorative armour of parade horses and camels in the Ottoman period

Ottoman Turkey or Egypt 18th century
54.5 x 74 cm
DAGGER AND SCABBARD

MTW1146

Enamelled gold dagger (khanjar) and sheath. The fine workmanship and rich materials are consistent with a report that this dagger was once in the treasury of the Nizams of Hyderabad. It is decorated with stylised lotus blossoms engraved under transparent enamels.

Mughal India or the Deccan late 17th or early 18th century
length 37.4cm
PLATE AND MAIL SHIRT OF STEEL

MTW1158

Plate and mail shirt of steel, with engraved and silver-inlaid decoration. Northern Caucasus, for the Persian or Ottoman market.

Northern Caucasus, for the Persian or Ottoman market, late 15th - early 16th century
length 86cm
FINTLOCK GUN

MTW1165

The wooden stock is lavishly inlaid ebony and coloured bone and ivory. The rifled steel barrel is inlaid with gold and silver.

Ottoman Turkey 17th - 18th century
Length 114cm
FLINTLOCK GUN

MTW1166

Flintlock gun. The green-stained wooden stock is inlaid with ivory, bone, mother-of-pearl and coloured glass cabochons. The steel barrel is gold-damascened.

Ottoman Turkey 18th century
length 154.5 cm
WAR MASK

MTW1390

War mask. The mask was originally attached to a helmet by a hinge at the brow and clamps at the temples. It bears holes for the attachment of a protective neck-veil and ear-protectors at the sides.

Anatolia or Western Iran late 15th century
20 x 16.5cm
HELMET

MTW1442

Steel helmet in the form of a turban. The helmet, composed of three separate parts, is made to resemble a type of turban fashionable in late 17th- and early 18th-century India. The forehead bears a retractable nosepiece, and behind is a socket for a plume. According to tradition, this helmet was presented by the Mughal emperor Awrangzeb to Chin Qilich Khan, who was to become the first Nizam of Hyderabad in 1725, as a reward for his bravery at the siege of Golconda in 1688.

India (the Deccan) late 17th century

Restart

CURATORIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

Professor J. M. Rogers
Honorary Curator

Nahla Nassar
Acting Curator and Registrar

ISLAMIC COLLECTION

ISLAMIC COLLECTION

DOOR HANDLES

MTW1407-1428 Pair of door handles cast in copper alloy, each in the shape of two intertwined dragons whose tails end in a bird's head.

Jazira (Northern Mesopotamia or South-east Anatolia) early 13th century height 35cm (each)

BOWL WITH INSCRIPTION

POT0850 Earthenware bowl with slip-painted decoration including an inscription in foliated Kufic script, 'Generosity is the disposition of the dwellers of Paradise.'

Eastern Iran, Nishapur 10th century diameter: 25.6cm

TEXTILE WITH PALMETTES IN LOTUS MEDALLIONS

TXT0229 Ilkhanid silk brocade with palmette trellis design. tabby, with supplementary weft, gold thread on strips of leather or parchment, originally on a coral-red ground.

Mamluk Egypt or Ilkhanid Iran 13th century AD 42.5 x 43cm

CALLIGRAPHIC WORKS

CAL0154 Calligraphic composition in gold on a tobacco leaf, with the basmalah ('In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful') written in thulth script.

Undated 14.3 x 11.5cm

COINS - MUGHAL

AST0009 Sagitarius; gold muhur, from Jahangir's zodiac series

Agra ah 1032; regnal year 17

FOLDING BACKGAMMON BOARD

early 19th century 69 x 45cm x 11.2 cm (open)

CALLIGRAPHIC WORKS

CAL0165 Calligraphic composition in red on a horse chestnut leaf, with a Qur'anic verse in thulth script. The text, part of verse 64 from surah Yusuf (xii), reads: 'But God is the best to take care [of him], and He is the Most Merciful of those who show mercy!

Ottoman Turkey 19th century length 24.5cm

SECTION FROM A CHASUBLE

Bursa 16th century AD 135 x 66cm

CELESTIAL GLOBE

Iran dated AH 684 (AD 1285-6), making this the sixth earliest surviving globe diameter: 13.4cm

TURBAN CROWN

Kathmandu 19th century AD 18 x 23 x 24cm

PART 29 OF A 30-PART QUR'AN

QUR0974 fol 1 det Illuminated frontispiece with ornamental script, from a 30-part Qur'an. This is an early specimen of a type of Qur’anic manuscript with its roots in eastern Iran, produced by the Huihui, or Chinese Muslims, under the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Khanbaliq (Beijing) dated 1401 24.5 x 17.5cm

TWO WANDERING DERVISHES

most probably Tabriz later 15th century AD 48.6 x 37.5cm

PORTRAIT MINIATURE OF THE QAJAR RULER, FATH'ALI SHAH

Iran Early 19th century AD 6.2 x 4.4cm

PAIR OF EARRINGS WITH PENDANT CHAINS

JLY1725 Pair of Fatimid granulated gold filigree crescent earrings (shown front and back).

Egypat or Syria 10th or11th century AD 4.1 x 3.1cm (each)

A GIRL WITH AN INDIAN HEADDRESS

MSS1000.2 Young woman with Indian headdress, signed by the painter Mu'in Musavvir, from a copy of Firdawsi's Shahnamah.

Isfahan dated 1648 20.5 x 10cm (within gold rules)

EMERALD CIRCULAR BOX

Mughal India circa 1635 4 x 5cm

SPOON

Mughal India Mid 17th century AD 14.8 cm (length)

MOSQUE LAMP

Egypt 15th century AD height: 33cm; max diameter: 25cm

KHIZR AND ELIAS DISCOVERING THE WATER OF LIFE, WATCHED BY ALEXANDER

MSS0979 fol 9b A Selection of paintings from the Khalili Falnamah ('Book of Divination'); Khizr and Ilias discovering the water of life, watched by Alexander ('The Great')

Deccan (Golconda) circa 1610 - 30 folios: 41 x 28.4cm; paintings: 30.3 x 21cm

DISH

Iran late 17th century AD 6.5 x 33 cm (diameter)

JONAH AND THE WHALE

Tabriz early 13th century AD 45 x 43 x 47.5cm

INCENSE BURNER OR POMANDER IN THE FORM OF A LYNX

Iran late 12th - early 13th century 27 x 27 x 8.7 cm

QUR'AN

QUR0950 det Detail of an illuminated page from part 7 of a 30-part Mamluk Qur'an

probably Cairo 14th century 16 x 16cm (detail shown)

FLORAL CARPET

TXT0191 Safavid wool pile carpet with an all-over pattern of flowers and leaves

perhaps Kirman 17th century AD 591 x 244cm

HORSE TRAPPINGS AND SADDLE FITTINGS

MTW0795 Gold Saddle fittings and horse trappings. saddle plaques: gold sheet, worked in repoussé, with chasing and engraved details; trappings: silver sheet, worked in repoussé and gilt.

Central Asia or inner Asian frontiers of China circa 1200 AD 29.7 cm (max height)

RECTANGULAR CASKET WITH THE REMAINS OF A COMBINATION LOCK

MTW0850 Brass casket with silver-inlaid decoration consisting of figural scenes and arabesques, the lid retaining four dials from a combination lock.

Jazira (Northern Mesopotamia) first half of the 13th century. 20.5 x 19.5 x 16 cm

CHAMFRON WITH CHEEK-PIECES

MTW0995 Chamfron (armour for a horse's face) and cheek-pieces. The steel chamfron is set decorated with silver-gilt appliqués and set with jade, carnelian, agate and coloured glass. These materials are characteristic of the decorative armour of parade horses and camels in the Ottoman period

Ottoman Turkey or Egypt 18th century 54.5 x 74 cm

DAGGER AND SCABBARD

MTW1146 Enamelled gold dagger (khanjar) and sheath. The fine workmanship and rich materials are consistent with a report that this dagger was once in the treasury of the Nizams of Hyderabad. It is decorated with stylised lotus blossoms engraved under transparent enamels.

Mughal India or the Deccan late 17th or early 18th century length 37.4cm

PLATE AND MAIL SHIRT OF STEEL

MTW1158 Plate and mail shirt of steel, with engraved and silver-inlaid decoration. Northern Caucasus, for the Persian or Ottoman market.

Northern Caucasus, for the Persian or Ottoman market, late 15th - early 16th century length 86cm

FINTLOCK GUN

MTW1165 The wooden stock is lavishly inlaid ebony and coloured bone and ivory. The rifled steel barrel is inlaid with gold and silver.

Ottoman Turkey 17th - 18th century Length 114cm

MTW1407-1428

Pair of door handles cast in copper alloy, each in the shape of two intertwined dragons whose tails end in a bird's head.

Jazira (Northern Mesopotamia or South-east Anatolia) early 13th century
height 35cm (each)

POT0850

Earthenware bowl with slip-painted decoration including an inscription in foliated Kufic script, 'Generosity is the disposition of the dwellers of Paradise.'

Eastern Iran, Nishapur 10th century
diameter: 25.6cm

TXT0229

Ilkhanid silk brocade with palmette trellis design. tabby, with supplementary weft, gold thread on strips of leather or parchment, originally on a coral-red ground.

Mamluk Egypt or Ilkhanid Iran 13th century AD
42.5 x 43cm

CAL0154

Calligraphic composition in gold on a tobacco leaf, with the basmalah ('In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful') written in thulth script.

Undated
14.3 x 11.5cm

AST0009

Sagitarius; gold muhur, from Jahangir's zodiac series

early 19th century
69 x 45cm x 11.2 cm (open)

CAL0165

Calligraphic composition in red on a horse chestnut leaf, with a Qur'anic verse in thulth script. The text, part of verse 64 from surah Yusuf (xii), reads: 'But God is the best to take care [of him], and He is the Most Merciful of those who show mercy!

Ottoman Turkey 19th century
length 24.5cm

Bursa 16th century AD
135 x 66cm

Iran dated AH 684 (AD 1285-6), making this the sixth earliest surviving globe
diameter: 13.4cm

Kathmandu 19th century AD
18 x 23 x 24cm

QUR0974 fol 1 det

Illuminated frontispiece with ornamental script, from a 30-part Qur'an. This is an early specimen of a type of Qur’anic manuscript with its roots in eastern Iran, produced by the Huihui, or Chinese Muslims, under the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Khanbaliq (Beijing) dated 1401
24.5 x 17.5cm

most probably Tabriz later 15th century AD
48.6 x 37.5cm

Iran Early 19th century AD
6.2 x 4.4cm

JLY1725

Pair of Fatimid granulated gold filigree crescent earrings (shown front and back).

Egypat or Syria 10th or11th century AD
4.1 x 3.1cm (each)

MSS1000.2

Young woman with Indian headdress, signed by the painter Mu'in Musavvir, from a copy of Firdawsi's Shahnamah.

Isfahan dated 1648
20.5 x 10cm (within gold rules)

Mughal India circa 1635
4 x 5cm

Mughal India Mid 17th century AD
14.8 cm (length)

Egypt 15th century AD
height: 33cm; max diameter: 25cm

MSS0979 fol 9b

A Selection of paintings from the Khalili Falnamah ('Book of Divination'); Khizr and Ilias discovering the water of life, watched by Alexander ('The Great')

Deccan (Golconda) circa 1610 - 30
folios: 41 x 28.4cm; paintings: 30.3 x 21cm

Iran late 17th century AD
6.5 x 33 cm (diameter)

Tabriz early 13th century AD
45 x 43 x 47.5cm

Iran late 12th - early 13th century
27 x 27 x 8.7 cm

QUR0950 det

Detail of an illuminated page from part 7 of a 30-part Mamluk Qur'an

probably Cairo 14th century
16 x 16cm (detail shown)

TXT0191

Safavid wool pile carpet with an all-over pattern of flowers and leaves

perhaps Kirman 17th century AD
591 x 244cm

MTW0795

Gold Saddle fittings and horse trappings. saddle plaques: gold sheet, worked in repoussé, with chasing and engraved details; trappings: silver sheet, worked in repoussé and gilt.

Central Asia or inner Asian frontiers of China circa 1200 AD
29.7 cm (max height)

MTW0850

Brass casket with silver-inlaid decoration consisting of figural scenes and arabesques, the lid retaining four dials from a combination lock.

Jazira (Northern Mesopotamia) first half of the 13th century.
20.5 x 19.5 x 16 cm

MTW0995

Chamfron (armour for a horse's face) and cheek-pieces. The steel chamfron is set decorated with silver-gilt appliqués and set with jade, carnelian, agate and coloured glass. These materials are characteristic of the decorative armour of parade horses and camels in the Ottoman period

Ottoman Turkey or Egypt 18th century
54.5 x 74 cm

MTW1146

Enamelled gold dagger (khanjar) and sheath. The fine workmanship and rich materials are consistent with a report that this dagger was once in the treasury of the Nizams of Hyderabad. It is decorated with stylised lotus blossoms engraved under transparent enamels.

Mughal India or the Deccan late 17th or early 18th century
length 37.4cm

MTW1158

Plate and mail shirt of steel, with engraved and silver-inlaid decoration. Northern Caucasus, for the Persian or Ottoman market.

Northern Caucasus, for the Persian or Ottoman market, late 15th - early 16th century
length 86cm

MTW1165

The wooden stock is lavishly inlaid ebony and coloured bone and ivory. The rifled steel barrel is inlaid with gold and silver.

Ottoman Turkey 17th - 18th century
Length 114cm

MTW1166

Flintlock gun. The green-stained wooden stock is inlaid with ivory, bone, mother-of-pearl and coloured glass cabochons. The steel barrel is gold-damascened.

Ottoman Turkey 18th century
length 154.5 cm

MTW1390

War mask. The mask was originally attached to a helmet by a hinge at the brow and clamps at the temples. It bears holes for the attachment of a protective neck-veil and ear-protectors at the sides.

Anatolia or Western Iran late 15th century
20 x 16.5cm