The Turkish holdings in the Khalili Collection constitute the most comprehensive collection of Ottoman art outside Turkey, with examples from the 15th to the early 20th centuries.The Collection is especially h10 on calligraphy, and provides an important corrective to the Western view of Ottoman art as consisting principally of ceramics and textiles.
The written word is shown in the many aspects it assumed within the empire, religious, administrative and cultural: as the vehicle of the Qur’anic text, as mosque decoration or in the literature of dervish orders; in works of science and geography; in royal decrees and genealogies; and as presented in the hands of some of the greatest calligraphers of the Empire.
Weaponry, scientific instruments, calligrapher’s tools and metalwork are also represented, together with bookbindings, carpets, textiles and pottery. The catalogue illustrates 203 items from the Collection in full colour. Each object is catalogued in detail, and two introductory essays narrate the history of the Ottoman Empire and of the collection of its artefacts and Western attitudes to them.
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
1000 copies [soft cover] The Nour Foundation, in association with Azimuth editions 32 x 24cm; 285 pages ISBN 1-898592-07-1
