Islamic art objects in Vienna collections

So far, few attention has been paid even by specialists to the large number of art objects from Islamic lands (approx. 4500-5000 items) preserved in many different public collections in Vienna. The distribution among these collections each of which could only accord a marginal role to its Islamic objects minimised the awareness of these objects. This, in turn, interfered with research as well as with a greater public visibility of Islamic art. Therefore, the project aims at fundamental research in several hitherto not explored groups of Islamic art objects in order to create a comprehensive survey, which will take the shape of a web-based open-to-all databank. The scholarly exploration of those groups of artefacts still awaiting study stands at the centre of the project. In some cases, the implementation of transdisciplinary research will afford external research capacities. The results of the fundamental research will be published in their art historical contexts, on the one hand. On the other hand, and together with already existing information on objects of Islamic art in Vienna, the newly established data will be collected in a databank. Taking into account the specifics of Islamic art, the data provided on an object will focus on - the exact definition of its type, purpose, materials and decorations; - its chronological, geographical and dynastic attribution. Constructing the databank in this way should allow for very different kinds of users` approaches while avoiding complicated operations. The project addresses specialists of Islamic art and all experts responsible for presenting Islamic art and culture to the public through exhibitions, publications and by means of other media. The amount of data provided on an item will enable the user to decide upon the relevance of that object for his/her special purposes. For more detailed information he/she will be referred to the collection, that way reserving the owner`s rights. In the course of the pilot project extending over three years, the first year will be dedicated to collecting the data on the relevant objects in 10 small collections strongly differing from each other. This should help checking and improving the structure of the databank and the usefulness of the thesauri. The work of the second year will concentrate on feeding a large quantity of data into the databank, mainly using already existing information on objects in the Museum of Applied Arts, with the aim to preliminarily open the databank to the public at the end of that year. During the third year, the scope of research on Islamic art objects will be extended by also including items from ethnological collections.

So far, few attention has been paid even by specialists to the large number of art objects from Islamic lands (approx. 4500-5000 items) preserved in many different public collections in Vienna. The distribution among these collections each of which could only accord a marginal role to its Islamic objects minimised the awareness of these objects. This, in turn, interfered with research as well as with a greater public visibility of Islamic art. Therefore, the project aims at fundamental research in several hitherto not explored groups of Islamic art objects in order to create a comprehensive survey, which will take the shape of a web-based open-to-all databank. The scholarly exploration of those groups of artefacts still awaiting study stands at the centre of the project. In some cases, the implementation of transdisciplinary research will afford external research capacities. The results of the fundamental research will be published in their art historical contexts, on the one hand. On the other hand, and together with already existing information on objects of Islamic art in Vienna, the newly established data will be collected in a databank. Taking into account the specifics of Islamic art, the data provided on an object will focus on the exact definition of its type, purpose, materials and decorations; its chronological, geographical and dynastic attribution. Constructing the databank in this way should allow for very different kinds of users` approaches while avoiding complicated operations. The project addresses specialists of Islamic art and all experts responsible for presenting Islamic art and culture to the public through exhibitions, publications and by means of other media. The amount of data provided on an item will enable the user to decide upon the relevance of that object for his/her special purposes. For more detailed information he/she will be referred to the collection, that way reserving the owner`s rights. In the course of the pilot project extending over three years, the first year will be dedicated to collecting the data on the relevant objects in 10 small collections strongly differing from each other. This should help checking and improving the structure of the databank and the usefulness of the thesauri. The work of the second year will concentrate on feeding a large quantity of data into the databank, mainly using already existing information on objects in the Museum of Applied Arts, with the aim to preliminarily open the databank to the public at the end of that year. During the third year, the scope of research on Islamic art objects will be extended by also including items from ethnological collections.