The Keir Collection of Islamic Art

The Keir Collection of Islamic Art Gallery is the largest public presentation in the history of one of the world's most important private collections of Islamic Art. The gallery will highlight particular strengths within the collection, which encompasses one of the most important holdings of luster pottery and rock crystals in the world including the celebrated rock crystal ewer, one of only seven in the world of its caliber and the only one of its type in the United States. The gallery space will display a series of rare manuscripts and painted miniatures of exquisite beauty, including a 16th-century Indian Khamsa of Nizami manuscript, and pages from the 1330 Shahnama known as “The Demotte Shahnama.”

The Keir Collection came to the DMA on a long-term loan agreement with the trustees of the Keir Collection that was finalized in 2014, transforming the Museum into the third largest repository of Islamic art in the United States.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.