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COLLECTOR: PROFESSOR NASSER D KHALILI
First piece: pen box by Mohammad Isma’il, AH 1266 (AD 1849-50)
orn in Iran, Professor Nasser D Khalili has amassed
the largest private collection of Islamic art in the
world. Four further collections span Swedish textiles,
enamels of the world, Spanish damascene metalwork and
Japanese decorative art: pieces from his collections have
been exhibited in the British Museum, the State Hermitage
Museum and the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. Plans
are now afoot for a dedicated museum where the Khalili
Collection will be on permanent display.
When I was a boy in Isfahan, my father used to take me
everywhere with him. He was an art dealer like my grandfather,
and I was interested from the start: even aged seven I’d spend
my lunch money buying stamps from classmates.
When I was about 12, my dad went to see the former
minister of education, a Dr Mehran, and as usual I went with
him. Th ere were some little lacquer boxes lying on the table,
and as the adults were talking I picked up a pen box and
started looking at it. When the conversation was over,
Sixty-Five
Dr Mehran turned to me and said: ‘Son, I’ve been watching
you. Why are you so mesmerised by that piece?’
I told him I’d counted all of the horsemen painted on the
box and found there were 800; even more wonderful, not one
was the same as the next. I was amazed: it wasn’t like an oil
painting on a canvas, with room to work and cover any
mistakes. Th is was on a tiny scale, and it was perfect.
Dr Mehran told me that in 40 years of collecting he’d never
thought to look at each individual fi gure, never counted each
one. He said I had a great future as a collector, then gave me
the box – and that was the start of my collection.
Th ese days people collect objects like buying stocks and
shares. Th ey don’t buy for the love of it: fi nances and money
should never be brought into collecting. It has to be done for
the sake of it, and collections should be shared and exhibited.
Two or three years after I’d left Iran for New York, my dad
met Dr Mehran again. He was in his 80s by then, and had
heard that I’d bought a couple of important pieces in Sotheby’s.
‘You see?’ he told my father. ‘My prediction’s coming true!’