Ashmolean Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

‘More than anything else . . . it was into his collecting that he poured the skill and passion of a complicated personality, and it is entirely fitting that it should be the collection he created which will remain as Gerald Reitlinger's permanent memorial.'

(From a portrait of Gerald Reitlinger by the Rt Hon. Lord Bullock, 1981)

Our collection of arts from the Islamic Middle East consists largely of ceramics, but also includes fine pieces of metalwork, glass, works on paper, textiles and carpets.  It is primarily the result of a few major gifts made to the Museum by generous individuals from the late 1800s. The taste of these collectors, what was fashionable at their time and available on the art market are essential elements to understand how this collection was shaped, what it does include and what it does not.

The largest number of Islamic ceramics now at the Museum was donated by the British collector Gerald Reitlinger (1900-1978). Most of his Islamic collection was originally kept in a special room in his house at Beckley, Sussex, which he called ‘the Museum'. He used to restore his objects himself, and kept on cards the record of each piece in his possession.