On March 26, the State Museum of Oriental Art in Russia unveiled the special exhibition Oriental Art in the Russian Provinces: Dmitry Burylin’s Oriental Collection, reuniting the Asian collections of the industrialist and philanthropist that had been dispersed among three museums.
The exhibition continues the museum’s series of projects devoted to Russian collectors of Asian art. Bringing together around 200 artifacts from the collection of the Ivanovo State Museum of History and Local Lore of D.G. Burylin, the Ivanovo Regional Art Museum, and the State Museum of Oriental Art, it is supplemented by historical photographs of the museum Burylin founded at the beginning of the 20th century. Dispersed in 1930, this group of Asian artifacts is now being presented together for the first time.
Highlights include a manuscript copy of the Qur’an featuring miniature illustrations of the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina; a manuscript copied by Belarusian Tatars, an exceptionally rare example of Islamic books in Eastern Europe; rare paintings from the second half of the 19th century produced during the Iranian Qajar dynasty; and an Abyssinian shield.
The exhibition is open until May 24.
Source: Russian State Museum of Oriental Art