An initial consultation about whether the services of this department are appropriate for your needs is available for free. Please contact us for more information.
There are many reasons why a written document or manuscript may be difficult to read or even be unreadable for a non-expert person. Bad handwriting, intentionally complicated writing (for example in cases of confidential documents), the challenging nature of certain scripts like Kufic, Taliq, and Shikasteh, damage to the text such as rubbings, cuts and tears, as well as certain highly manneristic styles of calligraphic artistry like siyah mashq (“black practice”), and zoomorphic calligraphy are all things which can make manuscript illegible to most.
The first step in assessment of any manuscript is identification of its text, which may further lead us to many significant facts about the item and consequently its valuation. Additionally, identification of existent notes, seals and remarks in the manuscript may enhance the significance and value of the item for the client personally, or even historically. Regeneration of unidentifiable texts follows basic textual identification, in which the expert will provide a clear, written version of the original text with all facts and details. This is an extremely important practice which can only be done by the experts, and it is rarely provided as a service. We are honoured to be able to provide this rare service to our esteemed clients.
Collectors and enthusiasts of Middle Eastern manuscripts, miniatures and calligraphy, usually have a broader array of interests which exceeds the simple physical possession and visual appreciation of the items. They may collect for broader reasons, such as a sense of pride in their heritage, a love of language, art, religion, history, or literature, or even simply curiosity and entertainment, as well as for educational and financial benefits.
Collecting arises from the values and interests of the collector, and in fact these values and interests are the main cause of creating any collection. Hence, research and studies in the same directions may be extremely important and precious for the collectors, and they often propose a new subject of study or unexplored domain of research. We are proud to provide a team of dedicated and specialised experts to materialise their dreams. Such research may also add financial value to the collection of the sponsors or may simply promote their interests as a cultural project.
Sometimes we also receive inquiries from universities, researchers, scholars and other experts to assist them in specific research, due to their lack of access to the original resources or difficulties in translation, understanding and identification of the manuscripts.
Having worked with a great network of museums, libraries, collectors, universities, manuscript centers and scholars, we can provide the best team to assist your research and translation requests with direct access to original manuscripts and items around the world.
Our cataloguing service can be arranged for an item individually or for an entire collection. Depending on the request of the clients, it can be synoptical, or it can be fully detailed. The difference between cataloguing large collections and individual items is that in the case of large collections we must also prepare the reference numbers as well as the storage locations of the items in the listings prior to the codicological and bibliographical information of the manuscript.
Catalogues may be considered as the credentials of the manuscript or a collection, such that anyone can get the inventory of a collection, as well as the value of it, by simply referring to its catalogue.
Cataloguing is also important in order to avoid any sorts of manipulation in the manuscripts or theft in general, as it is best practice to compare the catalogue listings and items of the collection every few years.
A precise and detailed catalogue created by an expert may be used as a reference for scholars and researchers without visiting the collections personally. A reliable catalogue of a collection is a very valuable reference source, sometimes more valuable than some individual items within the collection. All throughout history, there have been many extremely important and rare manuscripts and documents which were lost for various reasons. In some cases, only their catalogue listings enabled scholars to know anything about them, such as the famous catalogue of Ibn al-Nadim known as Al Fihrist al-Ibn al-Nadim.
There are many unidentified, unknown and rare manuscripts and documents which come to light every few years through experts re-cataloguing of collections which were catalogued poorly in the past. In our experience, there are a lot of mistakes even in national library catalogues and catalogues of important collections, mistakes concerning matters as important as the title, name of author, name of calligrapher, period, etc.
Collecting is an art in itself. Our collection consultation work assists collectors in practising that art. We make a point of knowing our clients’ tastes, sensibilities, and passions, and thus we can expertly facilitate the development and disposition of their collections.
A collectible object is valuable in its own right, but when objects are gathered as a collection, the collection itself has its own distinct character and value. We listen carefully to our clients, we come to know their collections with a curator’s eye, and help our clients find the missing pieces of the puzzle.
Knowing our clients’ taste is at the heart of what we do. With our expertise and carefully developed network of trusted contacts and sources, we help our clients find the things they really want- sometimes even if they didn’t know yet that they wanted them. We locate and propose treasures for our clients, and we can also purchase these for them on their behalf.
When a client wants to sell some or all of their collection, we make sure their items get into the right new hands at the right price. We help find private collectors for direct acquisition, and also smoothly arrange disposition of collections through our special relation with auction houses.
A collectible object is valuable in its own right, but when objects are gathered as a collection, the collection itself has its own distinct character and value. We listen carefully to our clients, we come to know their collections with a curator’s eye, and help our clients find the missing pieces of the puzzle.
We offer top quality in-house photography and videography services for imaging of manuscripts, books, and other art objects. We also create visually stunning, bibliographically informative, and elegantly organised digital portfolios for collectors and institutions. We also make short informational and documentary videos about items and collections.
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