Established | 1970[1] |
---|---|
Collection size | 35,000[1] |
Founder | Nasser D. Khalili |
Website | www |
The Khalili Collections are eight distinct art collections assembled by Nasser D. Khalili over five decades.[2][1] Together, the collections include some 35,000 works of art,[1] and each is considered among the most important in its field.[3]
Among these are the largest private collection of Islamic art, with 28,000 items including 2,000 ceramics and 600 items of jewellery. A separate collection includes around 5,000 objects relating to the Hajj, spanning from the 7th century AD to the present day. From Japan, there are 1,600 items of Meiji era decorative art and another collection of more than 450 kimono, covering a 300-year period. The most comprehensive private collection of enamels, with over 1,300 items, includes items from China, Japan, Europe and Islamic lands. The eight collections also include 100 flatweave textiles from southern Sweden, 100 examples of Spanish damascened metalwork (i.e. with metal inlaid into other metal), and 48 Aramaic documents from 4th century-BC Bactria. These various collections show two themes that commonly motivate private collections: collecting examples of the highest artistic merit and forming complete series.[4]
One hundred catalogues and monographs describing the collections are being published. There have been numerous public exhibitions drawn exclusively from the collections, as well as loans of items to heritage institutions.