This magnificent publication presents some highlights of the largest and finest privately-owned collection of Islamic art in the world; nearly 500 masterpieces that have been selected from over 20,000 works in the Khalili Collection. Created for sultans, princes and merchants between the 7th and the early 20th centuries, these precious objects reveal the extensive contact between the Islamic empires and their conquered lands from Spain and Morocco, across Northern Africa and Egypt, the Middle Eastern nations of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Palestine, and stretching as far east as Mongolia, India and China.
The treasures presented here include rare Qur’ans and illustrated manuscripts, exquisite glass, ceramics and jewellery, magnificent textiles, carpets and paintings, from the dawn of Islam until recent times. With texts by a team of scholars and specialists, headed by Professor J. M. Rogers, honorary curator of the Khalili Collection, this volume is a beautiful and inspiring celebration of the masterpieces of the arts of Islam.
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
Rudolf Abraham – Former Deputy Curator, Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London
Manijeh Bayani – Specialist in Persian and Arabic epigraphy; contributor to most of the catalogues in the Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art series
Deborah Freeman – Former Assistant Curator, Al-Sabah Collection, Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait; specialist in Arabic and Persian manuscripts
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
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
Charlotte Schriwer – completed a PhD in Islamic History at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, and holds an MA in Islamic Art and Archaeology from the School of Oriental and African Studies. She was employed as assistant to the Curator of Islamic Collections at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, and was the Sydney coordinator of The Arts of Islam: Treasures from the Nasser D Khalili Collection exhibition, at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.
Thames & Hudson 28 x 24cm; 400 pages; with over 650 colour illustrations; ISBN 978 0 500 515549
