This is a fundamental milestone in the accessibility of the museum collection and would not have been possible without the generosity of Yousef Jameel, Hon. LHD, a private supporter of the arts, education, and research.

Yousef Jameel facilitated the development of a special project team of art historians, archaeologists, photographers and conservators who, alongside permanent museum staff, recorded, documented and photographed large parts of its collection between 2012 and 2017.

They compiled important information about the objects including their dating, provenance, materials, and techniques. In addition, various views and interesting details of the artefacts were photographed.

After the successful conclusion of the project last year a huge selection of object information is now available online. This includes most of the museum’s famous carpets, three hundred examples of its little-published textiles, representative artworks from the ceramic, glass and metalwork and the ivory collection.

The complete digitization of two highlights of Shirazi book art are of particular note: the famous anthology of the Timurid prince Baisunqur from 1420 (I. 4628) in addition to the magnificent Koran from 1560-70 (I. 42/68).

The objects are available online at www.smb-digital.de. Please look for “Museum für Islamische Kunst“. Currently the descriptions are only available in German.

Source: SMB-Digital Online Collections Database