News and Updates

Recent research prompted by the restoration of a tanbur from The Al Thani Collection has revealed that, together with a strikingly similar instrument in the Victoria & Albert Museum, they are the oldest known surviving tanburs in existence.

The tanbur was the most important stringed instrument in Ottoman music of the 18th century; until recently the oldest was thought to be an example in the V&A which had previously been dated to 1850. 'The Awakening of a Tanbur' by Karim Othman-Hassan dates both instruments to the early to mid 18th century; it also documents the restoration of the example in The Al Thani Collection, as well as detailing findings on the origin of the instrument, how it developed in the 18th and 19th centuries, and how it was used. The tanbur from The Al Thani Collection has subsequently been used to play and record original 18th-century compositions in collaboration with eminent Ottoman historian and musician Kudsi Erguner.

The publication, together with video footage and a selection of the audio recordings, is available here.

An important pair of vases from The Al Thani Collection is a highlight of 'Une des provinces du Rococo. La Chine rêvée de François Boucher’ at le musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie de Besançon (9 November 2019 to 2 March 2020). The Qianlong vases are embellished with gilt ormolu mounts by Pierre Gouthière (1732 - circa 1814), the greatest bronzier of the Louis XVI period, and were likely owned by Boucher, the celebrated French artist.

In the 1730s, Boucher became fascinated with the art of East Asia and started to collect Chinese and Japanese objects. These inspired him to create a series of 10 chinoiserie cartoons to serve as models for the weavers at the tapestry workshops in Beauvais. This exhibition presents those drawings, which are owned by the museum, alongside tapestries, paintings, prints and works of art related to the artist, and to his fascination with the arts of the East.
More details of the exhibition can be found here.

The Tokyo National Museum will host an exhibition of masterpieces from The Al Thani Collection from 6 November 2019 to 9 February 2020. 'Man, God & Nature in the Ancient World: Masterpieces from The Al Thani Collection’ will feature 117 works of art created by a rich diversity of cultures spanning over three thousand years. United by the themes of Man, God and Nature, it explores the way in which people of the ancient world addressed and interpreted the forces around them. Highlights range from a Kiliya 'stargazer' idol carved from marble circa 3000 BC and an Egyptian royal head carved from jasper circa 1450 BC, to a ceremonial Mayan mask and Sasanian silver from the first centuries of the Christian era.

More details of the exhibition can be found here

The Al Thani Collection Foundation is pleased to have loaned five works to 'Culture Exchange Along the Silk Road: Masterpieces of the Tubo Period' which opened last week at the Dunhuang Academy in China. This is the research institute which oversees the Mogao Caves, one of China’s most renowned UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Organised jointly by the Dunhuang Academy and the Pritzker Art Collaborative, the exhibition explores the Tibetan Tubo Kingdom (7th to 9th century AD) which united the peoples of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. By the latter half of the 9th century, having caused the Chinese Tang Empire to withdraw eastwards, the Tubo had developed a huge network of trade routes connecting with the rest of China, South Asia and Central Asia. The exhibition includes approximately 120 objects, many of which are on loan from the Pritzker Art Collaborative, with further loans from the Abegg Foundation in Switzerland, the National Museum of China, the Palace Museum in Beijing, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Hirayama Ikuo Silk Road Museum in Japan, and the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition continues until 22 October 2019.

The pieces on loan from The Al Thani Collection are a Sasanian rhyton in silver and gold and modelled in the shape of a saiga antelope (5th to 7th century AD), a Sasanian silver and gold plate showing a royal hunting scene (6th to 7th century AD) and a Sogdian service consisting of a ewer, plate and wine vessel, made from gold and inset with turquoise (7th century AD).

See more here.

To take a virtual tour of the exhibition, click here.

The Al Thani Collection Foundation is pleased to support 'Moderne Maharajah: Un prince indien des années 1930 / Modern Maharajah: An Indian prince of the 1930s’ which will be shown at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris from 26 September 2019 until 12 January 2020. This exhibition honours Yeshwant Rao Holkar II (1908-1961), the Maharajah of Indore, a visionary collector and tastemaker of the 1920s and 1930s who built the first modernist construction in India: the palace of Manik Bagh (1930-1933). Designed by the German architect Eckart Muthesius, it was entirely furnished with works by key figures of the European inter-war avant-garde. Highlighting this mythical home, and evoking the cultural exchanges between Europe and India brought about by the young prince and his wife, this exhibition will bring together for the first time more than 500 objects and works of art revealing iconic creations by Louis Sognot and Charlotte Alix, Jean Puiforcat, Eileen Gray and Le Corbusier, together with unpublished archive material including photographs, paintings, correspondences and drawings.

Further details of the exhibition have now been announced and can be found here.

On 7 May, the Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN) announced the acquisition of an important commode by Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806). Originally commissioned in 1774 for the Hôtel du Garde-Meuble, now known as the Hôtel de la Marine, the commode is being donated by The Al Thani Collection Foundation. It will be on public view at the Hôtel de la Marine from its opening in spring 2020 as part of the refurnishing of the apartments of the intendent of the Garde-Meuble.

The commode was ordered in 1774, the year that Riesener was appointed cabinet-maker to the king, and was delivered in 1775 to the apartment of Madame Randon de Pommery, wife of the Garde-Général of the Garde Meuble de la Couronne. It is an important prototype for a celebrated series of Royal commodes which were subsequently delivered to the French Royal family. In 1795, following the French Revolution, it was sold at an auction of the contents of the Hôtel du Garde Meuble. It will return to France having appeared at auction in New York on 30 April 2019 where it was offered from a private collection.

This commode will join a drop-front secrétaire, also made by Jean-Henri Riesener in 1771, which was recently acquired for the Hôtel de la Marine by the CMN with the support of the French ministry of Culture. The CMN is also discussing loans with a number of institutions in an effort to return other original furnishings to the halls of the Hôtel de la Marine.

The Al Thani Collection Foundation will open a museum space at the Hôtel de la Marine in spring 2020.

Read more here.

We were pleased to attend a press conference held at Hôtel de la Marine, Paris, on 9 April, alongside a number of other partners in involved in this exciting project. The Hôtel de la Marine is one of two palaces commissioned by Louis XV in the 18th century to adorn the royal square. Designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel, First Architect of the King, it was built between 1757 and 1774 and originally served as the Garde-meuble de la Couronne, the repository for the French Royal Collections. It was subsequently used by the Navy who vacated the building in 2015, at which point it was taken on by the Centres des Monuments Nationaux (CMN) which has since overseen an ambitious restoration plan.

The Al Thani Collection Foundation is proud to be a part of this project and excited to be opening a museum space at the Hôtel de la Marine next year, providing for the long-term display of works drawn from across the entire Collection. The galleries will host a permanent exhibition alongside a programme of themed shows, and will also host educational initiatives including lectures and symposia. Visit: http://www.hotel-de-la-marine.paris