What makes an art collection more than the sum of its parts? \u2018The rare and unusual,\u2019 says Wilkinson. \u2018The prince and princess never followed a set of rules of sticking to genres or specific periods \u2014 they acquired what resonated with them personally.\u2019<\/p>\n
Over the years, the collection acquired a kind of reverence among scholars of Islamic and Indian art, becoming a reference point for academics and auction houses. \u2018We\u2019ve grown used to using the Aga Khan collection as a touchpoint for exceptionalism,\u2019 says Wilkinson, \u2018so this is a big moment in auction history, and highly anticipated. There is no better collection anywhere in the world.\u2019<\/p>\n
On 28 October 2025, Christie\u2019s will offer Exceptional Paintings from the Personal Collection of Prince & Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan<\/a>, a group of 95 works by or attributed to such celebrated artists as Dust Muhammad<\/a>, Basawan<\/a>, Ghulam Ali Khan<\/a>, Bishan Singh<\/a> and Reza Abbasi<\/a>. \u2018It is hard not to be dazzled by these paintings,\u2019 says the historian William Dalrymple in the video above. \u2018Anyone with an eye will fall in love with them.\u2019<\/p>\n Edward Wilkinson\u2019s highlights from the Personal Collection of Prince & Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan Painted in unusual pale, silvery colours, these Pahari pictures detail the Hindu epic poem Rasikapriya, which was a popular theme in 18th-century India. The story of the bereft nayika, waiting for her lover, is told with a remarkable degree of movement and elegance. \u2018The artist has used the metaphor in one page of the silver moon, and the mist in the background amplifies her desolation,\u2019 says Wilkinson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What makes an art collection more than the sum of its parts? \u2018The rare and unusual,\u2019 says Wilkinson.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[307,304,305,306,63728,308,63729,93,61,17811,60,63727,63733,63732,63734,63731,63725,63726,63730],"class_list":["post-103235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-christies-auction","tag-design","tag-edward-wilkinson","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-indian-art","tag-ireland","tag-islamic-paintings","tag-kotah-school","tag-mughal-art","tag-pahari-paintings","tag-persia","tag-prince-sadruddin-aga-khan","tag-princess-catherine-aga-khan","tag-william-dalrymple"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIllustrations to a Rasikapriya, circa 1770-80<\/p>\n