Research, Citation, & Class Guides: Art History 496: Special Topic: What is Islamic Art?: View Islamic Art in Museums

Purpose

These select museums have substantial collections of Islamic Art. They are not the only museums that you can use for your research, but are instead suggested starting points.

Select U.S.A. Museums with Islamic Art Collections

These sources will help you locate images. But remember that you must properly credit information taken from these sources, even if the material is considered to be in the public domain. See the Cite It Right section of this guide.

The Met Collection (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Over 490,000 of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's high resolution digital images are freely available for non-commercial use. The Image & Data Resources page will explain more about the images and terms of use. Look for the OASC icon in photo captions for open-access images.
National Museum of Asian Art - Smithsonian Institution
Provides access to over 46,000 objects dating from antiquity to the present from China, Japan, Korea, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East as well as an important collection of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American works from the Aesthetic Movement.
Walters Art Museum: Collections
Collection spans more than seven millennia, from 5,000 BCE to the 21st century, and encompasses 36,000 objects.
Walters Art Museum: Manuscripts & Rare Books
Contains over 900 illuminated manuscripts, 1,250 of the first printed books (ca. 1455 - 1500), and post-1500 deluxe editions. Chronicles the art of the book for over 1,000 years, across the world, and from ancient to modern times.
Cleveland Museum of Art
Broad collection of art in many formats, which includes more than 66,500 artworks and spans 6,000 years of achievement in the arts.
LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)
Collection includes over 150,000 objects that illuminate 6,000 years of artistic expression across the globe. LACMA exhibits and interprets works of art from new and unexpected points of view that are informed by the region’s rich cultural heritage and diverse population.
MFAH (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX)
Collection of nearly 80,000 works of art from throughout the world, from antiquity to the present. Includes art from across time periods, cultures, classifications, and more.
MFABoston
Showcases ancient artistry and modern masterpieces, local legends and global visionaries. Collection includes nearly 500,000 works. Highlighted works from the galleries and current exhibitions are available for browsing online. Boston, MA.
Dallas Museum of Art: Keir Collection of Islamic Art
Over 1,600 works, most viewable online. Dallas, TX.
Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design
Approximately 4,500 objects and cultural resources, the collection includes works of art from Spain, Morocco, Egypt, Syria, Iran, Central Asia, India, and parts of Southeast Asia. The collection is particularly strong in ceramics, wood, glass, and textiles. Honolulu, HI.
Brooklyn Museum: Arts of the Islamic World
Collection includes about two thousand objects that span thirteen centuries, right up to the present. Objects represent cultures from Spain to India and Central Asia to North Africa. They are both religious and secular in nature and are in a variety of mediums, including ceramics, glass, metalwork, textiles, and works on paper. Brooklyn, NY.

Select Global Museums with Islamic Art Collections

The Louvre Collections
Collection includes over 500,000 works of art from the museum's nine curatorial departments (Near Eastern Antiquities; Egyptian Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities; Byzantine and Eastern Christian Art; Islamic Art; Paintings; Medieval, Renaissance and Modern Sculpture; Prints and Drawings; Medieval, Renaissance and Modern Decorative Arts), and more. English interface. Paris, France.
V&A (Victoria & Albert Museum, London)
Explore the over 1.25 million objects in the online collections, from ancient Chinese ceramics to Alexander McQueen evening dresses. Covers 5,000 years of human creativity.
The Khalili Collections
Collection includes about 35,000 works total in eight art collections: Islamic Art; Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage; Aramaic Documents; Japanese Art of the Meiji Period; Japanese Kimono; Swedish Textiles; Spanish Damascene Metalwork; and Enamels of the World. London, England.
Ashmolean Museum
The University of Oxford’s museum of art and archaeology was founded in 1683. The collections range from Egyptian mummies to contemporary art, telling human stories across cultures and across time. Oxford, England.
Aga Khan Museum
Collection has over 1,200 masterpieces and innovative performing arts and educational programming. Toronto, Canada.
Museum of Islamic Art, Doha
Features masterpieces of Islamic art, including metalwork, ceramics, jewelery, woodwork, textiles, coins, and glass from the 7th to the 20th centuries. Works come from both the secular and religious spheres, and are drawn from a range of sources. English interface. Doha, Qatar.
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin: Museum für Islamische Kunst (Museum for Islamic Art)
Contains works of art, cultural artefacts, and archaeological finds from Islamic peoples and societies that range in date from the 7th to the 19 century. Its exhibits stem from an area that extends from the Mediterranean region (Southern Europe, North Africa and Western Asia) all the way to Central and South Asia. Berlin, Germany.
Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo
Houses more than 100,000 artifacts covering all branches of Islamic Art during the different periods of Islamic history. Collections include the manuscripts and instruments of the Islamic sciences such as Medicine, Surgery, Engineering, Astronomy, and Horticulture as well as items from daily life, including metallic, glass and porcelain utensils, jewelry, weapons, wood and ivory objects, textiles, carpets, etc.
The David Collection
Comprehensive collection includes Islamic art in the Western world. Covers virtually the entire classical Islamic world, from Spain in the west to India in the east, and spans the period from the 7th to the 19th century, with all artistic media represented. Copenhagen, Denmark.
TIEM (Turkish and Islamic Art Museum)
Containing 1,700 pieces, the museum’s rug and carpet collection is the most important in the world. The collection also includes ceramics and gypsum plaster reliefs, wall paintings, woodwork, stonework, textiles, manuscripts, and Medieval metal-glass-ceramic works. Istanbul, Turkey.
Calouste Gulbenkian Museum
Explore the Gulbenkian Collections through a 360º virtual tour with interactive images. Contains around 6,000 pieces divided into seven groups: the Islamic Orient, Egyptian art, Greco-Roman art, Mesopotamia, Armenia, and the Far East and, Western art. English interface. Lisbon, Portugal.
Benaki Museum, Museum of Islamic Art
The 200 items in the Islamic art collection includes examples of all its local variations from as far as India, Persia, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, the Middle East, Arabia, Egypt, North Africa, Sicily and Spain. English interface. Athens, Greece.
Chester Beatty
Collections include over 25,000 representative samples of the world’s heritage (artistic, religious and secular). The Islamic Collection includes just over 6,000 objects, which consist of manuscript volumes, single folios and scrolls, as well as loose bindings, inscribed amulets, scientific instruments, pen boxes, and other objects. Geographic scope is Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. English interface. Dublin, Ireland.

Art History 496: Special Topic: What is Islamic Art?

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Purpose

Select U.S.A. Museums with Islamic Art Collections

Select Global Museums with Islamic Art Collections