Since 1970 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.
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