Khalili Collection Research Articles

A pre-Mongol New Persian legal document from Islamic Khurāsān dated ah 608/1212 ce

AbstractSince the 1990s several caches of New Persian documents have come to light in Afghanistan. These documents, written on paper, are now the most significant sources for understanding how New Persian in Arabic script was used as an administrative and legal language in the eastern Islamic lands between the eleventh and early thirteenth centuries before the Mongol conquest of Khurāsān. After a brief survey of the three main collections in which these New Persian paper documents are preserved today, this article presents a preliminary edition, translation and commentary on one of the New Persian documents held in the Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art. The document, dated ah 608/1212 ce, is a record of court proceedings and the decision of a judge (qāḍī) in a lawsuit over water rights initiated by a woman.

“The Prophet Muhammad and his Companions” and “Musa va ‘UJ”: A Comparison of Two Paintings

ABSTRACTThis study compares two paintings: one is the third in an undated illustrated manuscript of Kalila va Dimna in the Gulestan Palace Library in Tehran, and the other, often called “Musa va ‘Uj”, is in the Khalili Collection in London. These two paintings share so many similarities that they have long been thought to be the work of the same hand, painted at about the same time. The aim of this article is to examine the proposition by considering some relevant historical and aesthetic aspects. The study of the differences and similarities between the two paintings should be helpful in suggesting a resolution to this interesting problem.

Résonances visuelles d’un coran harari : un manuscrit éthiopien du XVIIIe siècle et ses connections avec l’océan Indien

Although not widely recognized as Harari, a Qur’ān manuscript in the Khalili Collection in London (QUR706) provides an opportunity to consider long-distance artistic circulations and encounters in the early modern Indian Ocean. Dated to 1162/1749, the Khalili Qur’ān can be linked with Mamluk and earlier Indian Qur’ān manuscripts through its illuminations and its use of biḥārī script, a type rarely seen outside of India. Later inscriptions in the Qur’ān record its eventual arrival in Zanzibar. The trans-regional visual resonances of the manuscript, and its later circulation, highlight the position not only of Harar as a regional artistic center within Ethiopia, but also that of the Horn of Africa within a broader Indian Ocean ecumene. Focusing on the Khalili Qur’ān, this essay will explore Harar’s nuanced engagement and selective participation in networks of artistic circulation and exchanges and their role in the formation of a Harari visual idiom within the burgeoning globalization of 18th-century Ethiopia.

Illustrating History: Rashid al-Din and his Compendium of Chronicles

The Arabic copy of Rashid al-Din’s Jāmiʿ al-tavārīkh dated 714/1314‒15 and divided between Edinburgh University Library (Or. ms. 20) and the Khalili Collection in London (ms. 727) is of seminal importance as one of the first and most extensively illustrated histories produced in Iran. This article examines four paintings from the manuscript to suggest why the patron wanted to add illustrations and how artists in his atelier adopted and adapted elements from Chinese painting in order to disseminate the text and enhance its meaning.

Japonisme and the rise of the modern art movement: the arts of the Meiji period: the Khalili Collection

From the 1860s through to the early 20th century the rise of Japonisme and the Art Nouveau movement meant that few could ignore or resist the obsession with all things Japanese. Superbly crafted and often highly decorated Japanese objects lacquer, metalwork, ceramics, enamels and other decorative items excited, stimulated and inspired Western artists and craftsmen to produce their own works. Arts of the Meiji period (18681912) were displayed at international exhibitions, galleries of influential dealers and at fashionable stores in London, Paris and Vienna. This book includes many examples of the superlatively designed and executed decorative arts of the Meiji periods from the Khalili Collection, the greatest collection of Meiji period art in the world. Artists such as Van Gogh, Whistler, Monet, Manet, Klimt and Schiele were all, to varying degrees, influenced by the arts of Japan. Van Gogh said that he owed his inspiration to Japanese art, but even he was probably not aware of just how much art in Europe had already been greatly influenced by that of Japan.

Book Review: Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan. III: Plates. Studies in the Khalili Collection, Vol. 3. CIIr. Pt. 2, Inscriptions of the Seleucid and Parthian Periods and of Eastern Iran and Central Asia. Vol. 4, Bactrian. By Nicholas Sims-Williams. pp. 270. Oxford, The Nour Foundation in association with Azimuth Editions and Oxford University Press, 2012./Nicholas Sims-Williams. Bactrian Documents from Northern

Book Review: Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan. III: Plates. Studies in the Khalili Collection, Vol. 3. CIIr. Pt. 2, Inscriptions of the Seleucid and Parthian Periods and of Eastern Iran and Central Asia. Vol. 4, Bactrian. By Nicholas Sims-Williams. pp. 270. Oxford, The Nour Foundation in association with Azimuth Editions and Oxford University Press, 2012./Nicholas Sims-Williams. Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan I: Legal and Economic Documents (revised edition). Studies in the Khalili Collection, vol. 3. CIIr. Pt. 2, Inscriptions of the Seleucid and Parthian Periods and of Eastern Iran and Central Asia. Vol. 4, Bactrian. By Nicholas Sims-Williams. pp. 171. Oxford, The Nour Foundation in association with Azimuth Editions and Oxford University Press, 2012.–ERRATUM - Volume 23 Issue 2

Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan. III: Plates. Studies in the Khalili Collection, Vol. 3. CIIr. Pt. 2, Inscriptions of the Seleucid and Parthian Periods and of Eastern Iran and Central Asia. Vol. 4, Bactrian. By Nicholas Sims-Williams. pp. 270. Oxford, The Nour Foundation in association with Azimuth Editions and Oxford University Press, 2012. - Nicholas Sims-Williams. Bactrian Documents from Northern

Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan. III: Plates. Studies in the Khalili Collection, Vol. 3. CIIr. Pt. 2, Inscriptions of the Seleucid and Parthian Periods and of Eastern Iran and Central Asia. Vol. 4, Bactrian. By Nicholas Sims-Williams. pp. 270. Oxford, The Nour Foundation in association with Azimuth Editions and Oxford University Press, 2012. - Nicholas Sims-Williams. Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan I: Legal and Economic Documents (revised edition). Studies in the Khalili Collection, vol. 3. CIIr. Pt. 2, Inscriptions of the Seleucid and Parthian Periods and of Eastern Iran and Central Asia. Vol. 4, Bactrian. By Nicholas Sims-Williams. pp. 171. Oxford, The Nour Foundation in association with Azimuth Editions and Oxford University Press, 2012. - Volume 23 Issue 1

Beyond the Spectacular: (Re)presenting Islamic Art and Politics of Display

This paper explores the capacity of museums to represent identity, difference and belonging, and promote cross-cultural understanding in displays of Islamic culture. Since a fundamental premise of the museum has been the aspiration to build bridges between diverse cultures, these institutions have positioned themselves as mediators for cultures facing confrontation by taking on an educational and civic role in social and cultural development. In doing so however, the museum has become a contested site in terms of the practices, policies and procedures developed and implemented in response to changeable and often volatile socio-political climates. This study explores the complexities of promoting cross-cultural understanding in a display of Islamic artifacts in Sydney in 2007. Considering the intensity and prevalence of Islamophobia in Australia (Dunn et al. 2004, 2007) which radicalizes Western Muslims and reinforces the East/West divide affecting notions of nation, Islamic identity and citizenship, the study questions the Art of Islam: Treasures from the Nasser D Khalili Collection travelling exhibition's impact on and interrelations with institutional and societal tensions. In illustration, preliminary findings from interviews and focus groups in relation to this exhibitionary event will be discussed. This case study will be positioned in the wider context of the politics of display in terms of how non-Western cultures are portrayed by Western institutions, and whether these exhibitions contribute to developing greater understanding between Muslim and non-Muslim communities specifically, and present alternate local and global images of the Arab/Muslim world generally.

La transmission ecrite du Coran dans les debuts de l'islam. Le codex Parisino-petropolitanus * By FRANCOIS DEROCHE

This monumental work of scholarship by Professor François Déroche is the culmination of a long study of old Qurʿānic manuscripts, particularly of manuscript Arabe 328 of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, which he began examining in 1979, and manuscript Marcel 18 of the National Library of Russia, which he studied in 2001. Déroche had previously been entrusted by the BNF with the compilation of its catalogue of Arabic manuscripts—a task he completed in 1983. The two above-named manuscripts are collections of fragments and are referred to in the subtitle which is simply the Latinized form of Paris and St Petersburg. Together with those of the Vatican library and the D. N. Khalili collection of Islamic art, London, they represent about 45% of the Qurʿānic text. The rest of the Qurʿān in manuscript form is to be found in other collections, the most important being one of the oldest located at the British Library as Or. 2165. Déroche reproduces here in facsimile 28 plates showing fragments of Qurʿānic texts mostly from BNF, BNR, British Library, Dār al-Makhtuṭāṭ, Sanaa, together with verses from Suras 2 to 71 in the handwriting of five copyists collaborating on the Parisino-petropolitanus. Like the `Uthmānic text of the Qurʿān with which they have strong affinities, these fragments have no diacritics and vowel signs which became established only during the rule of ʾAbd al-Malik (685–705). Déroche, basing himself on the characteristics of the writings, also studies another small group of ancient manuscripts and fragments containing part of the Qurʿānic text as these warrant comparison with Parisino-petropolitanus (ch. 5).

GEOFFREY KHAN, Arabic Documents from Early Islamic Khurasan (Studies in the Khalili Collection, Volume V).

GEOFFREY KHAN, Arabic Documents from Early Islamic Khurasan (Studies in the Khalili Collection, Volume V).

N. Sims-Williams. Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan II: Letters and Buddhist Texts. London, The Nour Foundation, 2007. (Studies in the Khalili Collection, III. Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum. Part II Inscriptions of the Seleucid and Parthian Periods and of Eastern Iran and Central Asia: Vol. III: Bactrian), 326 p.

N. Sims-Williams. Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan II: Letters and Buddhist Texts. London, The Nour Foundation, 2007. (Studies in the Khalili Collection, III. Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum. Part II Inscriptions of the Seleucid and Parthian Periods and of Eastern Iran and Central Asia: Vol. III: Bactrian), 326 p.

Nasser D. Khalili. « A recently acquired incense burner in the Khalili Collection ». Muqarnas, XXI (2004), pp. 215-218.

Cette acquisition est un encensoir en forme de lion dont la facture, finement analysee par l’A., est particulierement elegante. Sa decoration est surprenante car elle presente, selon K.N., des references epigraphiques avec les sceaux shi'ites. Les details du decor, compares a d’autres encensoirs, amenent l'A a proposer une provenance Khurassanienne d'epoque seljukide. L'absence des noms du proprietaire et de l'artisan dans l'inscription indiquerait une production massive et couvrant une perio...

Heaven on Earth: art from Islamic lands: works from the State Hermitage Museum and the Khalili Collection

This title is a catalogue of Islamic works of art on display in the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg and the Khalili Collection in London, supported by authoritative essays by distinguished Islamic scholars.

Cobalt and Lustre: The First Centuries of Islamic Pottery, vol. 9, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art. Ernst J. GrubeCeramics of the Islamic World in the Tareq Rajab Museum. Géza Fehérvári

<i>Cobalt and Lustre: The First Centuries of Islamic Pottery, vol. 9, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art</i>. Ernst J. Grube<i>Ceramics of the Islamic World in the Tareq Rajab Museum</i>. Géza Fehérvári

A Recently Acquired Incense Burner in the Khalili Collection

A Recently Acquired Incense Burner in the Khalili Collection

Catherine B. Asher. Review of "The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, vol. 8" by Linda York Leach.

Catherine B. Asher. Review of "The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, vol. 8" by Linda York Leach.

Nicholas Sims-Williams. Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan, I: Legal and Economic Documents, (Studies in the Khalili Collection, III, Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum, Part II, vol. VI: Bactrian). Oxford, University Press, 2000, 255 p.

L’A. donne ici la premiere traduction d’un corpus de documents bactriens de grande ampleur. Ces textes sont apparus sur le marche et semblent issus d’archives notariales du royaume de Rob, sur le flanc nord de l’Hindou-Kouch. Ils sont dates du quatrieme au 8e s. de n.e. (en prenant comme point de depart de l’ere utilisee l’annee 233). L’ouvrage, qui renou­velle totalement nos connaissances sur la langue et l’economie bactriennes, comprend une grammaire, une edition, une traduction des textes,...

Francis Maddison and Emilie Savage-Smith, Science, tools and magic, Part One. Body and spirit, mapping the universe; Emilie Savage-Smith with contributions from Ralph Pinder-Wilson and Tim Stanley, Part Two. Mundane worlds, The Nasser D Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, vol. 12, London, The Nour Foundation in association with Azimuth Editions and Oxford University Press, 1997, pp. 439, illus., £185.00 (0-19-7276105).

Francis Maddison and Emilie Savage-Smith, Science, tools and magic, Part One. Body and spirit, mapping the universe; Emilie Savage-Smith with contributions from Ralph Pinder-Wilson and Tim Stanley, Part Two. Mundane worlds, The Nasser D Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, vol. 12, London, The Nour Foundation in association with Azimuth Editions and Oxford University Press, 1997, pp. 439, illus., £185.00 (0-19-7276105). - Volume 43 Issue 4

Book Review: Art in Islamic Scientific Instruments: Science, Tools and Magic: The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, xii

Book Review: Art in Islamic Scientific Instruments: Science, Tools and Magic: The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, xii

The Near and Middle East - Francis Maddison, Emilie Savagesmith: Science, tools and magic. 2 parts. Part 1: Body and spirit; mapping the Universe. By Francis Maddison and Emilie Savage-Smith. Part 2: Mundane worlds. By Emilie Savage-Smith and three others. (The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art. General editor, Julian Raby. Vol. xn.) 287 pp.; 289–39 pp. London: The

The Near and Middle East - Francis Maddison, Emilie Savagesmith: Science, tools and magic. 2 parts. Part 1: Body and spirit; mapping the Universe. By Francis Maddison and Emilie Savage-Smith. Part 2: Mundane worlds. By Emilie Savage-Smith and three others. (The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art. General editor, Julian Raby. Vol. xn.) 287 pp.; 289–39 pp. London: The