acknowledgments

The partnership between the Museum Rietberg and The Metropolitan Museum of Art that generated this exhibition has necessitated the cooperation of many colleagues in museums in India, Europe, and the United States, as well as those within our respective institutions. We are indebted to the Museum Rietberg’s director Albert Lutz and to Thomas P. Campbell and Philippe De Montebello, present and former Directors of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, for their unstinting support of this complex project, which has drawn works of art from lenders in three continents.

The former director of the Museum Rietberg, Eberhard Fischer, together with his longstanding colleagues Milo Beach and B. N. Goswamy, conceived the exhibition and passed the baton to curator Jorrit Britschgi and registrar Andrea Kuprecht. Upon entering into a partnership with the Metropolitan, the Museum’s Associate Director for Exhibitions Jennifer Russell and Registrar Aileen Chuk gave their full support, and John Guy undertook the co-curatorship.

This exhibition could not have been realized without the generous cooperation of major lenders from three continents. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II graciously agreed to lend works from The Royal Collection. Major loans were generously provided by The Aga Khan Trust in Geneva, the Bodleian Library and the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, The Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, the State Library in Berlin, the Ethnographic Museum of Munich, and the Musée Guimet in Paris.

As a result of the generous support of India’s Minister of Culture and the cooperation of the directors of the four lending institutions, Indian collections have a major presence in the exhibition. We thank India’s Secretary of Culture, Jawhar Sircar; the National Museum New Delhi, especially Dr. Jayshree Sharma; director Dr. D. P. Sharma and staff of the Bharat Kala Bhavan at Banares Hindu University, Varanasi; trustees and staff of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai, especially the director Mr. S. Mukherjee; the Udaipur City Palace Museum, Udaipur and His Excellency Arvind Singh of Mewar. The Indian Ambassador to the United States, Ambassador Meera Shankar and her staff were especially helpful. In India, the Swiss Ambassador Philippe Welti lent great support.

Colleagues in museums across Europe and the United States have responded with generous loans. The directors and staff of the museums named in the List of Lenders herein must be acknowledged. In addition, we wish to thank those individuals who responded to our innumerable requests: Anita Chung, Debra Diamond, Sir Howard Hodgkin, Benoît Junod, Stephen Markel, Darielle Mason, Sonya Quintanilla, Julian Raby, Andrew Topsfield, and Laura Weinstein. A number of private collectors made highly significant loans to the exhibition, and they also appear in the List of Lenders.

A large number of people assisted in various ways to the exhibition’s realization, and we thank them here: Taryn Adinolfi, Jude Ahern, Catherine Benkaim, C. V. Ananda Bose, Michael Brand, Prahlad Bubbar, Allison Busch, Dr. Daljeet, Asok Kumar Das, B. G. Deshmukh, Nancy Fessenden, Kjeld von Folsach, Jürgen Frembgen Sven Gahlin, Chandrika Grover, Ludwig Habighorst, Sara Hardin, Diane Hart, Franak Hilloowala, Steven Kossak, Naval Krishna, Pramod Kumar, Vijay S. Madan, Terence McInerney, Mary McWilliams, Aldo Mignucci, Theresa-Mary Morton, Sarah Murray, Nahla Nasser, Kit Nicholson, Antony Peattie, Cynthia Polsky, Irina Popova, Vandana Prapanna, Neeta and Sushil Premchand, Bruno Rauch, Honorable Lady Roberts, Michael Ryan, Konrad and Eva Seitz, D. P. Sharma, Gursharan and Elvira Sidhu, Rajeswari Shah Amaresh Singh, Bhupendra Singh Auwa, R. P. Singh, Anita Spertus, Cynthia Talbot, Elena Tananova, Wheeler Thackston, Audrey Trusche, Oliver Watson, Edith Welch, Mary White, the late Doris Wiener, and Mrinalini Venkateswaran.

At The Metropolitan Museum of Art, thanks are due to colleagues in the Asian Art Department. James Watt, Curator Emeritus, and Maxwell Hearn, Curator-in-Charge, have given this project their fullest support. Administrator Judith Smith supported by Jill Wickenheisser and colleagues in the Collection Management team, led by Hwai-ling Yeh-Lewis, have been vital to the exhibition’s realization, and special thanks go to Alison Clark and Crystal Kui for their dedication to the management of the loans. For further assistance in supporting loans and research, we wish to thank Kurt Behrendt, Thelma Carter, Kristan Liu, and Karen Weissenborn. Use of the resources of the Museum’s great library was provided by Robyn Fleming, Jennie Pu, and Min Xu. Unfailing technical support was received from Imtikar Ally, Lori Carrier, Luis Nuñez, and Beatrice Pinto. Further assistance was provided by Taylor Miller and his construction team.

Colleagues Sheila Canby, Maryam Ekhtiar, and Navina Haidar Haykel, in the Metropolitan’s Department of Islamic Art,