The Art of Adornment: Jewellery of the Islamic Lands

The magnificent holdings of Islamic jewellery in the Khalili Collection are comprehensive in a way which cannot be claimed for any other published collection. A separate volume has been devoted to the 618 rings in the Collection, and another to enamelled jewellery from Mughal India. This volume includes virtually every other form of personal adornment - earrings, bracelets, amulets, necklaces, headdresses, hairpins, buttons, and belt fittings. The pieces date from the 7th to the 19th centuries, and are mostly from Iran, Syria, Egypt and Afghanistan, but there are also examples from Ottoman Turkey and the Maghrib. The Collection includes an impressive group of bracelets, and the sheer number has allowed a typological study tracing the development of the form over a long period and across a wide geographical area. The Collection is especially rich in gold jewellery of the Saljuq and Fatimid periods, and the large group of exceptionally fine Fatimid goldwork exemplifies the extraordinary openwork filigree and granulation produced by goldsmiths in 11th- and 12th-century Egypt and Syria. The group includes rings, bracelets, earrings and beads, and the detailed study of the items has permitted a fuller understanding of Islamic goldwork and its place in the medieval world. A few are decorated with enamels, and these include a remarkable bracelet with linked enamelled medallions.