UMMA Collections

Middle Eastern Art

Nearly one-third of the Middle Eastern collection consists of ceramic vessels and tiles from Iran and Syria, dating from the eighth through the eighteenth centuries, that were originally acquired by the College of Architecture and Design as examples for the study of decorative arts. Through gifts, the Museum has acquired several important works of calligraphy, rugs, and textiles. Over half of the Middle Eastern, Islamic, and Central Asian collections at UMMA were acquired through purchase, in the years between 1957 and 1963; it was during this period that an extraordinary pair of thirteenth-century bronze candlesticks and a complete fifteenth-century manuscript of the Shahnama (The Book of Kings) came to Ann Arbor. The most recent additions to the collection are works by the contemporary Syrian calligrapher, Khaled al-Saa’I (born 1970).