Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the way in which this all-encompassing notion of the Orient was progressively broken down into more functional, though still rather tendentious, categories. It offers a short synthetic survey of the relationships between Britain and Iran in the second half of the 19th century and introduces some of the diplomats, army officers, travellers and explorers who bought or plundered examples of Islamic arts and crafts. The book focuses on the exhibition of Persian and Arab art organised by the Burlington Club in 1885 and provides a detailed analysis of all the information available in the photographically illustrated catalogue of the display. It explores the sociological profile of Islamic art collectors in the last quarter of the century, mostly newly enriched middle-class men—although older, more aristocratic collecting patterns seemed to survive as far as carpets were concerned.