Jewellery and Hardstone

The al-Sabah Collection possesses an unparalleled assemblage of Islamic jewellery and jewelled objects. In addition to what is certainly the largest and most representative collection of mediaeval Islamic jewellery in the world, the collection houses an incomparable representation of the jewellery and jewelled objects of the Mughal and Deccan territories of India of the 16th to 18th centuries. The latter has been extensively shown worldwide in the “Treasury of the World” exhibition, its first venue being the British Museum in London in 2001. The collection’s holdings of jewellery of the pre-Islamic periods from the Near East and Central and South Asia are also extremely extensive and distinguished.

In addition to jewelled objects, the collection is very rich in items fashioned of decorative hardstones, principally jade and rock crystal. Some of the rock crystal objects date from the early mediaeval period and consist principally of small bottles, beads and gaming pieces. These rare objects date from the 9th to the 11th centuries.