Bought by the Museum of Applied Arts in Istanbul in 1891. In the same year, a major exhibition in Vienna emphasised the growing European interest in carpets, which was reflected in a number of contemporaneous publications on the subject.

One of the first exhibitions of Islamic art took place in Algeria in 1867. The ceiling fragment shown here was included among the selection of artworks.

An Arabian leather binding bought for the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna.

A Mamluk mosque lamp bought in 1869 by the British Museum in London.

The Museum of Industrial Arts was established in 1872 in Rome, comprising a collection of artefacts from antiquity to the 19th century, but also providing a training school for artisans specialising in this area.

Acquired by Augustus Wollaston Franks, Keeper at the British Museum in London. He donated his own collection to the museum, having been active in purchasing works of art to enrich its collection. This box was acquired in 1874.

In 1890, after an earthquake devastated the palace, many tiles like these were sold to European and American Museums.

This page, from a publication of the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo by Max Herz Pasha, depicts one of the galleries showing the museum’s metalwork collection. Max Herz was of Hungarian origin; he was director of the Arab Museum in 1892, and subsequently became director of the Comité de Conservation des Monuments de l’Art Arabe in 1901. He later became director of the Museum of Islamic Art (formerly the Arab Museum).

Oriental rugs and carpets became collectable in the late 19th century. The carpet collection at the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin began in 1904 with the gift of 21 carpets from the art historian Wilhelm von Bode. This fragment, showing an animated scene featuring animals and trees, was created in north-west Iran before the middle of the 16th century.

The exhibition “Meisterwerke muhammedanischer Kunst”, under the patronage of Leopold Prince Regent of Bavaria, was held in Munich in 1910, and brought together objects from various collections in Europe, Egypt and Turkey. It was the most comprehensive of the exhibitions on Islamic Art in Europe so far, with 3,600 pieces on display in 80 rooms.

The Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo holds one of the world’s most important collections, encompassing Islamic artefacts from around the world. It was inaugurated in a new building at Bab al-Khalq on 28 December 1903.

According to the base, the bottle was part of the 1885 exhibition at Burlington Arts Club in London and the 1925 “Exposition d’art musulman” in Alexandria. The London exhibition, which was based on private collections in Britain, placed emphasis on illustrating the arts of Iran and the influence it had on the so-called ceramics of Damascus and Rhodes.

The cartoon shows the Alexandrian art collectors of the 1925 exposition: on the left is Antonis Benakis holding a paintbrush; Konstantinos Synadinos washes the floor; Christophoros Nomikos hangs a ceramic dish on the wall; and Baron de Menasque, standing on a ladder, paints the ceiling.

The “Exposition d’art musulman”, organised by Gaston Migeon, was held in Alexandria in 1925. Based on objects of Alexandrian collectors, a number of the pieces had also been shown in the earlier “Meisterwerke muhammedanischer Kunst” (Masterpieces of Islamic Art) exhibition in Munich in 1910.

Collectors’ names such as Benaki, Nomico, Lagonico, Bacos, Salvago, Harari and Choremi, among others, featured as lenders to this exhibition. Two publications were produced as a result: this small catalogue and an album illustrating the best pieces.