Qatar Museums (QM) on Thursday announced a partnership between Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) and Bank of America Merrill Lynch on the conservation of a monumental stucco panel from the medieval Saljuk era of Iran.
The Bank of America Merrill Lynch will provide funding for the conservation of one of the most important masterpieces in MIA’s collections as part of the bank’s global Art Conservation Project. It marks the first time a financial institution has partnered with QM and MIA. It is also the first time that funds have been directly linked to a specific item in MIA’s collection.
Acting MIA Director Daniel Brown said: “One of the key parts of MIA’s mission is to share ongoing research with the public in the forms of exhibitions, publications, and learning and interpretation activities,” thepeninsulaqatar.com reported.
“Now through this support from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, we will be able to present the stucco panel to the public while providing a completely new interpretation and revealing original and historic restoration methods,” Brown noted.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch Mena President Arshad Ghafur said: “We are proud to support MIA by helping conserve this important piece of history, a monumental stucco panel from the medieval Saljuk era of Iran, for the learning and enjoyment of future generations.
The panel features a compilation of the ‘princely cycle’, detailing feasting, hunting, music-making and the enjoyment of nature in the traditions of Persian art and culture.
It is one of three monumental stucco panels from the highly celebrated era of Islamic art history, and the only one scheduled for permanent public display.
The other two panels are in North America: One in storage at Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the other belonging to a private collector.
The MIA panel will be the only piece to be scientifically and rigorously examined and conserved.
MIA will use new data to produce enhanced information panels when the piece is unveiled at its permanent galleries in late 2016, and provide more accurate information in a monograph to be published in 2017.
