PUBLICATION
Two Safavid folios description written by Negar Habibi
published in the catalog raisonné of Islamic art - Musée des beaux arts de Lyon, under the supervision of Salima Hellal, Sandra Aube, Eloïse Brac De La Perrière
Negar Habibi wrote two folios description in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon catalog raisonné of its Islamic art collections, comprising almost 1,000 works. For the most part, these collections were built up at the end of the 19th century to provide silk designers with a new repertoire of forms. Over the years, the various people in charge have developed the collection, creating a dedicated section as early as the 1880s. Deposits, bequests and acquisitions, often of prestigious provenance (Goupil and Piot collections, Arconati-Visconti and Parvillée donations, etc.) have subsequently enriched the collection.
From the Muslim West to India, these collections offer a broad spectrum of material culture in Islamic lands, from ancient times (9th century) to the modern period (19th century). They include ceramics, metals, wood, glass, ivories and textiles, as well as a fine collection of Persian and Mughal miniatures. Certain cultural areas stand out for their breadth: the Ayyubid Near East (1171-c. 1250), Mamluk (1250-1517), the Ottoman Empire (1299-1924) and the Persian-speaking world of Iran and Central Asia, for which the museum boasts a vast collection of metals, armor, paintings, lacquerware and ceramics.
The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon is France's leading regional museum of Islamic art, and over the last ten years has undertaken a major project to study, restore and promote this major collection. The aim is to publish this work in order to help spread knowledge of the collection among museum visitors, the general public and the scientific community.