The Albukhary Foundation Gallery of the Islamic World opens to the public on 18 October 2018.

A major re-display of the British Museum’s world-class Islamic collection, the new gallery will be a comprehensive presentation of the Islamic world through art and material culture. Situated within a new suite of rooms at the heart of the Museum, it will underscore global connections across a vast region of the world from West Africa to Southeast Asia and reflect links between the ancient and medieval as well as the modern worlds.

Islamic World Art – The British Museum

Islam has played a significant role in great civilisations as a faith, political system and culture. The new gallery will feature objects that give an overview of cultural exchange in an area stretching from Nigeria to Indonesia and from the 7th century to the present day.

From cooking pots to golden vessels, and from 20th-century dress to contemporary art, the objects displayed will demonstrate the extraordinary richness of global encounters.

The place and role of other faiths and communities including Christians, Jews and Hindus – will be reflected throughout the gallery, showing their significant contributions to the social, economic and cultural life of the Islamic world.

The shape of this incense burner developed from a type popular in the Byzantine period. It is richly inlaid with silver, a legacy of the styles developed in the workshops of Mosul in the early 13th century. On the lid and around the body stand ecclesiastical figures who hold censers and other objects associated with Christian church ritual. Although uninscribed, it is likely to have been made for a Christian patron.

The British Museum’s collection of Islamic material uniquely represents the finest artworks alongside objects of daily life such as modern games and musical instruments.

The collection includes archaeology, decorative arts, arts of the book, shadow puppets, textiles

and contemporary art. The creation of the Albukhary Foundation Gallery provides

an

extraordinary opportunity

to

display these objects in new ways that showcase the p

eoples and

cultures of the Islamic world, as well as the ideas, t

echnologies and interactions that inspired

their visual culture.

The great medieval dynasties

up

to about 1500 are explored in the first room

,

highlighting

connections within nearby galleries relating to Byz

antium, the Vikings, the Crusades

and Islamic Spain.

A

13th-century incense burner made of intricate inlaid meta

lwork from

Damascus combines techniques developed in Mosul, with d

ecoration depicting Christian

scenes demonstrating that such objects were made for a v

ariety of patrons both Christian

and

Muslim.

Rarely seen archaeological material

discovered at two major cosmopolitan centres will bring

to life the inner workings of these early Islamic citie

s. Samarra in present-day Iraq, a vast

palatial city on the banks of the Tigris, and Siraf a por

t city on the south coast of Iran. 20th-

century excavations yielded an extraordinary richness of mate

rial, from 9th-century wal

l

fragments with painted faces to coveted Chinese porcelai

n traded across the Indian Ocean in

journeys

echoing the tales of the legendary Sindbad the sailor fr

om the

Arabian Nights

.

The second room introduces the three major dynasties domi

nating the Islamic world from the

16th century: the Ottomans, Safavids and Mughals. Their p

atronage saw the production and

Press release

New Albukhary

Foundation Gallery of

the Islamic World to

open 18 October 2018

trade of magnificent objects, including ceramics, jewelle

ry and painting.

A new approach in

this gallery is to also include 19th- and 20th-centur

y objects and textiles from Africa,

the Middle East, Central Asia, and South and Southeast Asia

, many of which have not

been displayed before

.

From elaborate

19

th

-century mother-

of

-pearl inlaid wooden Turkish

bath clogs to a brightly decorated Uzbek woman

’

s

robe with Russian lining, juxtapositions of

objects will continually draw attention to the cross-fert

ilisation between regions and time

periods.

T

he

new gallery will accommodate

a permanent presence for light-sensitive objects such

as works on paper and textiles

which will be regularly changed

.

These will include stunning

14

th

century illustrated pages from one of the most celebrated

oral traditions, the Persian epic

Shahnama

(Book of Kings) which will be shown alongside monumenta

l folios of the

16

th

–

centu

ry

Indian Mughal emperor Akbar

’

s

Hamzanama

(Adventures of Hamza)

.

These belong to

the Islamic literary tradition, which stems from

a rich and diverse history of storytelling that

pre-dates the advent of Islam

, featuring epics about real and mythical kings and he

roes, as

well as romances and religious narratives.

The arts of the book and calligraphy will be displaye

d alongside musical instruments

,

including an outstanding 19th-century lyre from Sudan and

20th-century shadow puppets from

Turkey. Works on paper by artists from

the Museum

’

s growing collection of contemporary

art

will be presented in dialogue with the cultures of the

past.

An

exciting collaboration with the

Prince

’

s School of Traditional Arts will also emphasise continu

ing traditions of paper-making,

painting and illumination alongside masterpieces of Pe

rsian and Indian painting. An area

dedicated to temporary displays will open with an exhibi

tion from the Islamic Arts Museum

Malaysia exploring the idea of the arabesque; an abstra

ct vegetal motif that spread across the

Muslim world for over 1000 years.

The displays are enhanced by an engaging new programme of

digital media that comprises a

series of introductory films focussing on topics such as a

rchitectural decoration, ceramic

technology, arts of the book and music. An accompanying we

bsite will allow for further

research and exploration of the collections on display. Th

e visitor will have the opportunity to

engage directly with objects at a dedicated handling de

sk managed by the Museum

’

s

volunteer programme.

Designed by Stirling Prize-winning architects Stanton Willi

ams

and in close collaboration

with the British Museum, the new gallery has been create

d by opening up and significantly

refurbishing two historic, 19th-century spaces on the firs

t floor of the Museum. Adjacent to

recently renovated European galleries, these spaces have b

een closed to visitors for several

years.

The curatorial team consists of Venetia Porter, Ladan Akbarn

ia, Fahmida Suleman, Zeina

Klink-Hoppe, Amandine Mérat and William Greenwood.

Hartwig Fisher,

Director of the British Museum, said,

“

The galleries and permanent displays

of the British Museum

’

s collection show us the interconnectedness of our shared cu

ltures. The

Albukhary Foundation Gallery of the Islamic World allows

us to display this world-class

collection

to

tell a more universal story of Islam in a global contex

t. I am grateful to the

Albukhary Foundation and the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia for

supporting this important

new gallery.

”

Venetia Porter,

Assistant Keeper of Islamic and Contemporary Middle East a

t the British

Museum, said,

“

Th

is new gallery has given us the opportunity to complete

ly re-visit our

collection and to explore the history, complexity and di

versity of the cultures of the Islamic

world from West Africa to the Malay Archipelago.

”

Syed Mokhtar Albukhary,

Chairman of the Albukhary Foundation, said,

“

I would like to thank

the British Museum for a fruitful collaboration and for

the opening of the Albukhary Foundation

Gallery of the Islamic World which aims at displaying th

e convergence and divergence of

Islam. In the context of globalisation, I sincerely hop

e that this new galley will attract a

multicultural audience, and contribute in understanding

the history, arts and cultures of the

Islamic World

”

.

Syed Mohamad Albukhary,

Director of the Islamic Art Museum Malaysia, said,

“

After years

of preparation, it is enormously gratifying to see the

Albukhary Foundation Gallery of the

Islamic World open to the public. This gallery will ce

rtainly form an educational space and will

contribute in strengthening the visitors

’

experience and in their understanding of the Islamic

civilisation

”