Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Spanish Metalwork | |
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Curators | Nasser D. Khalili (founder) Dror Elkvity (Curator and Chief Co-ordinator) James D. Lavin (Special Advisor)[1] |
Size (no. of items) | 100[2] |
Website | https://www.khalilicollections.org/all-collections/spanish-damascene-metalwork/ |
The Khalili Collection of Spanish Damascene Metalwork is a private collection assembled by the British scholar, collector and philanthropist Nasser D. Khalili. It includes a hundred examples of damascened metalwork, in which gold or silver is pressed into an iron surface to create fine decoration. It is one of eight collections assembled, conserved, published and exhibited by Khalili, each of which is considered among the most important in its field.[3] The collection includes art works from 1850 to the early twentieth century, including many from the workshop of Plácido Zuloaga and other works from artists trained or influenced by Zuloaga. Almost all the works are from Eibar or Toledo.
Khalili, who also owns the world's largest private collection of Islamic art,[4] first encountered damascening in that context, and regards Spain as having "raised the art to the pinnacle of perfection" so began to collect Spanish damascene as well.[5] The collection has been the basis for international exhibitions including at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum and the Alhambra Palace in Granada.[6] Alan Borg, when Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, described the collection's catalogue as "a landmark in the study of nineteenth-century Spanish decorative art".[2]
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