Islamic masterworks to go on show

By WAYNE THOMPSON

More than 120 Islamic art treasures from Kuwait, looted by Iraq during the Gulf War but later returned, are to go on show at the Auckland War Memorial Museum nextyear.

Extra security will be laid on for the exhibition, Islamic Art and Patronage, which features precious artefacts ranging from jewel-encrusted daggers to 9th century ceramics and illustrated texts.

The museum director, Rodney Wilson, said Auckland was offered a slot for the exhibition after the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, where it has just opened.

The museum board approved the deal on Tuesday.

The director of the New South Wales gallery, Edmund Capon, found himself having to defend his decision to go ahead with the exhibition despite the Bali bombings and the subsequent concerns about terrorism in Australia.

But Dr Wilson said the exhibition was timely because Islam was extremely topical and few New Zealanders had had the chance to gain an understanding of its art and culture.

"In these times, such an exhibition is a good thing to have because it makes available to the public some of the richness and intellectual achievement of Islamic culture," he said.

"It's a nice balance against the common picture that we are being served up these days."

The exhibition contains many of the finest examples of Islamic art in the al-Sabah Collection, which is housed at the Kuwait National Museum.

The collection was formed by leading members of the Kuwaiti royal family, Sheikh Nasir Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah and his wife, Sheikha Hassah Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah.

During the Gulf War in 1990, the Kuwait National Museum was ransacked and heavily damaged by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's troops.

The collection was carried off to Iraq but was returned largely intact the following year.

Since then the 30,000 pieces of the collection have mostly either been in storage or touring the world's museums.

Dr Wilson said the artefacts coming to New Zealand were created between the 8th and 18th centuries.

They were produced in countries ranging from Spain to India and throughout the Middle East.

He said the Kuwaiti Air Force would bring the exhibits and take them away - saving the museum tens of thousands of dollars in transport costs.

The value of the exhibition has not been disclosed.

But Dr Wilson said the museum had made an application to the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Heritage to indemnify theitems against major loss because of theft ordamage.

Islamic Art and Patronage will run from April 4 to June 15 next year.