The Islamic Art and Patronage: Treasures from Kuwait (IAP) exhibition left Kuwait in July 1990 and opened at The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia on 4 August 1990, just days after the invasion of Kuwait. Homeless, as a result of the destruction of the Kuwait National Museum during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, IAP travelled for 14 years, stopping in 23 museums in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, France, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Australia, and New Zealand. Because of its high publicity during the occupation of Kuwait, IAP became a powerful political statement and a true Kuwait Ambassador to the world. In October 2008, IAP came out of retirement and was the featured exhibition at the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation in the United Arab Emirates for four months.
This exhibition, arranged in four chronological groupings, presented a wide range of objects produced between the seventh and eighteenth centuries in the major centres of the Islamic world. Some were made for powerful caliphs, sultans and shahs; most however, were used by anonymous patrons, whose tastes reflect the cultural traditions of their societies and the artistic production of their age.
| Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization, Sharjah, UAE | 31 October 2008 – 28 February 2009 |
| Auckland War Memorial Museum, Auckland, New Zealand | 18 April 2003 – 22 June 2003 |
| Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia | 30 November 2002 – 27 January 2003 |
| Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia | 27 June 2002 – 15 September 2002 |
| National Museum Bahrain, Cultural & National Heritage, Manama, Bahrain | 10 January 2001 – 10 March 2001 |
| National Museum, King Abdulaziz Historical Center, al Murabba, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | 8 October 2000 – 8 November 2000 |
| Mohammad Mahmoud Khalil Museum, Cairo, Egypt | 6 April 1999 – 6 July 1999 |
| Brunei Gallery, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK | 30 September 1998 – 11 December 1998 |
| Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Portugal | 22 October 1997 – 22 February 1998 |
| Museum für Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt am Main, Germany | 22 May 1996 – 20 October 1996 |
| The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England | 11 April 1995 – 25 June 1995 |
| Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy | 18 March 1994 – 19 May 1994 |
| Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, Holland | 13 June 1993 – 7 November 1993 |
| Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France | 12 February 1993 – 16 May 1993 |
| New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA, USA | 14 November 1992 – 10 January 1993 |
| Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec, Canada | 4 June 1992 – 4 October 1992 |
| St. Louis Museum of Art, St. Louis, MI, USA | 15 February 2002 – 12 April 1992 |
| The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, USA | 5 November 1991 – 19 January 1992 |
| Scottsdale Art Center, Scottsdale, AZ, USA | 5 October 1991 – 13 October 1991 |
| Emory University Museum of Art and Archaeology, Atlanta, GA, USA | 19 June 1991 – 22 September 1991 |
| Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX, USA | 16 March 1991 – 12 May 1991 |
| Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, MD, USA | 9 December 1990 – 17 February 1991 |
| Hermitage Museum, Leningrad, USSR | 6 August 1990 – 31 August 1990 |
