1500 masterpieces for the Berlin Museum of Islamic Art
Press release from 06/10/2009
Today, Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, is signing a contract at the Pergamonmuseum for an extensive permanent loan of the de Unger Collection. The collector Edmund de Unger is represented by his lawyer and his son Richard de Unger. Edmund de Unger's collection of Islamic art, known internationally as the "Keir Collection", will in future enrich the holdings of the Museum of Islamic Art of the National Museums in Berlin. It includes works from almost all periods and artistic landscapes of the Islamic core countries around the Mediterranean and Central Asia. 112 of the total of 1500 works from various fields of art and decorative arts are already in Berlin, the others will follow after the collector's death.
Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, says: "Edmund de Unger has amassed one of the world's largest and most important private collections in the field of Islamic art. We are delighted that he is entrusting it to the Foundation. With this permanent loan to Berlin, he is making true masterpieces of Islamic art and craftsmanship accessible to a broad public."
The collector
Edmund de Unger was born in Budapest in 1918. After the war, he emigrated to England, where he studied and worked as a lawyer. Even as a teenager, he collected carpets, just like his parents. In the 1960s, he discovered his love of Islamic art and since then has built up his collection in this field with great expertise. He systematically selected rarely represented objects that were still controversial in research, which he tracked down at markets and above all in famous old collections. Edmund de Unger, who enjoys an excellent reputation among experts, says of his collecting activities: "Every single object that I have been able to acquire tells a story, and every acquisition has been the result of a sudden passion or a gradually growing affection. My wish is to share the joy of these works with other lovers of Islamic art."
The collection
Brocades and carpets, early medieval bronzes and objects from book art are among the central areas of de Unger's collection. Persian textiles from the Safavid period and European textiles form the main part of the textile collection, which includes pre-Islamic and early Islamic, medieval and modern fabrics and embroideries. Valuable calligraphy, elaborately decorated book bindings and magnificent miniatures from Iran, Central Asia and Mamluk Egypt are also on loan. The collection also includes rare, precious rock crystal objects, the production of which flourished during the reign of the Fatimids in Egypt (969-1171). There is also a wide variety of Islamic ceramics from all periods.
In terms of its art-historical value and stylistic breadth, the Keir Collection is comparable to the holdings of the most important museums of Islamic art. It has been involved in almost all major exhibitions and publications on the subject. Numerous works from the collection have also led to new scientific findings.
A representative selection of the loans already in Berlin will be exhibited in December 2009 under the theme "Collecting and Collectors". The exhibition will also deal with the phenomenon of collecting and the art market, for example with the questions of what the collector sees in his pieces or how the value of objects is created on the art market.
The Museum of Islamic Art
The Museum of Islamic Art in the Pergamon Museum on Berlin's Museum Island exhibits the art of the Islamic peoples from the 8th to the 19th century. Founded in 1904, the "Islamic Art Department" initially comprised the Mshatta Facade (Jordan, ca. 742) and, above all, carpets from the collection of Wilhelm von Bode, then director of the Royal Museums. Today, fine art is represented in almost all areas, from architectural decoration to arts and crafts, jewellery and book art. The works of art in the collection come from an area stretching from Spain to India, with a focus on the Near East, including Egypt and Iran. Almost all arts and crafts materials are represented: Vessel ceramics, metalwork, wood and bone carvings, glassware, fabrics, carpets. From the book art collection, miniatures and Arabic-Persian calligraphy from the Mughal period are shown in temporary exhibitions. Among the highlights of the collection, alongside the façade of Mshatta, are the excavated finds from palaces in Samarra (Iraq, 9th century), the Aleppo Room (Syria, 1600) and the wall ceramics in various techniques as prayer niches from Turkey and Iran.
Stefan Weber, Director of the Museum of Islamic Art, emphasises: "The Keir Collection is an almost seamless addition to the holdings in Berlin. Whether magnificent illuminations or masterpieces from medieval ceramic workshops, they all round off the encyclopaedic collection of the 105-year-old museum in Berlin."