Collections : [University of Michigan History of Art Visual Resources Collection]

The Islamic Art Archives is composed of six collections, including those of Mehmet Ağa-Oğlu, Arthur Upham Pope, Donald Newton Wilber, Oleg Grabar, Marianna Shreve Simpson, and the Afghanistan Archaeological Remains Photographs Collection. The collection also includes photographic prints of the pages of the illustrated manuscripts Maqamat and Shah Nama, and additional photographs of Islamic architecture.

The Islamic Art Archives is composed of six collections, including those of Mehmet Ağa-Oğlu, Arthur Upham Pope, Donald Newton Wilber, Oleg Grabar, Marianna Shreve Simpson, and the Afghanistan Archaeological Remains Photograph. The Mehmet Ağa-Oğlu collection documents the Islamic and pre-Islamic art and architecture of the Middle East, Persia, the Caucasus, Western Asia, North Africa, and Southern Spain. Arthur Upham Pope focused primarily on Persian architecture and monuments, but his collection also includes photographs of Persian ceramics, textiles, and illustrated manuscripts. Wilber, Pope's colleague, also primarily studied Iranian monuments but he focused on those built during the Achaemenid and Sasanian empires. Oleg Grabar's work focused on the architecture of the seventh and eighth centuries of the Umayyad dynasty, the architecture of Jerusalem under Islamic rule, Arabic and Persian illustrated manuscripts and ornaments, and contemporary Islamic architecture. On the other hand, the Afghanistan Archaeological Remains Photograph collection depicts Afghanistan sculptures, statues, figural reliefs, pottery, and other archaeological remains, the majority of which are from the Kabul Museum in Afghanistan. Finally, Dr. Simpson's collection documents her work and her notes from her study of Islamic manuscripts around the world. The collection also includes photographic prints of the pages of the illustrated manuscripts Maqamat and Shah Nama.

The Oleg Grabar collection is comprised of approximately 580 photographs, slides, and negatives compiled during Dr. Grabar's research and expeditions to Syria, Israel, and Jordan. Grabar specialized in the architecture of the seventh and eighth centuries of the Umayyad dynasty. Later his interests broadened to include the architecture of Jerusalem under Islamic rule, Arabic and Persian illustrated manuscripts and ornament, and contemporary Islamic architecture.

The Oleg Grabar collection is comprised of approximately 580 photographs, slides, and negatives compiled during Dr. Grabar's research and expeditions to Syria, Israel, and Jordan. Grabar specialized in the architecture of the seventh and eighth centuries of the Umayyad dynasty but later his interests broadened to include the architecture of Jerusalem under Islamic rule, Arabic and Persian illustrated manuscripts and ornament, and contemporary Islamic architecture. The collection is divided into three main series, the Photograph series, the Negatives series, and the Slides series. The Photograph and Negatives series contains photographs and negatives produced during the excavations of Qasr al-Hayr al-sharqi in Syria between 1964 and 1971. The Slides series is comprised of the slides created from Dr. Grabar's research and travel throughout Syria, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, and Iran. The slides have been digitized and are available online.

Additional materials regarding Dr. Oleg Grabar and the excavation of Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi can be found at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. The Kelsey holds the excavation records from the site and correspondence regarding the dig (October 1962-September 1998), publications, maps, drawings, and more.

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The Palace Museum Archives Collection was part of a project from 1963 to 1964 to create and distribute a photographic record of the holdings of the National Palace Museum in Taiwan. The archive is composed of three primary collections, the National Palace Museum (NPMT), the Chinese Art Treasures (CAT), and Chien-Mu, and contains the negatives and master file prints of all the photographs taken throughout the project.

The Palace Museum Archives Collection was part of a project from 1963 to 1964 to create and distribute a photographic record of the National Palace Museum, Taiwan's holdings. The archive contains two main series, which reflect the two mediums of the collection, Negatives and Master Files. The Negatives were originally produced during the photograph reproduction project at NPMT, while the Master Files are the black and white prints of the negatives. These series are further divided by the three main collections that make up the PMA, the National Palace Museum (NPMT), the Chinese Art Treasures (CAT), and the Chien-Mu. The photographs and negatives within these collections are then arranged by the dynasty during which the original artwork was created and finally by the medium.

The NPMT and CAT both contain paintings, various albums, and various medias. The Painting series contains handscrolls, hanging scrolls, calligraphy, and portraits. The portraits contain approximately 79 portraits of various emperors of China. For many of them, the artist and the dynasty they were commissioned during are unknown. Several of the earliest paintings depict mythical emperors or subjects who did not have portraits painted of them during their lifetimes. The Various Albums contains approximately 42 multi-leaf painting albums and they contain various artists, subjects, and dynasties. The Various Medias series contains photographs of objects made from bronze, ceramic, fa-lang, ink stone, ink sticks, jade, k'ossu, lacquer, silver, or wood. The Chien-Mu collection only contains handscrolls, hanging scrolls, and various albums and these items are generally understood to be lesser or more unreliable in terms of authenticity than those found in the NPMT or CAT.

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