ABSTRACT
As Patricia Rubin has aptly remarked, “a keen perception of worth, cost and value pervades his collecting.” This keen perception differentiated him from other collectors and was particularly meaningful in the field of Islamic art: while Islamic objects on the whole cost less than the more coveted Chinese pots or Western porcelain, their prices rarely reflected their true worth. All this might appear to have little to do with Islamic art. But it is of paramount importance to understand, firstly, that for both C.D E. Fortnum and Frederick DuCane Godman, collecting Islamic art was grounded on a purely scientific practice which involved travelling massively, classifying acquisitions and organising knowledge in illustrated catalogues of the collections, be they specimens of natural history or of decorative art. One of the journalists reporting on the collection after Salting’s death testified: “every corner is filled to congestion with masterpieces of the great artists of Italy, Holland and England, stacked up in every available corner.”.
