Running until April 10 2021, the exhibition features approximately 300 objects, some of which have never been exhibited to the public before.

The Museum of Islamic Art has opened A Falcon’s Eye: Tribute to Sheikh Saoud Al Thani, a special exhibition featuring extraordinary artworks and artefacts acquired by Sheikh Saoud Al Thani, both as a passionate individual collector and on behalf of the State of Qatar. Sheikh Saoud served as Chairman for Qatar’s National Council for Culture, Arts and Heritage from 1997 to 2005. His knowledge and interests ranged from wildlife preservation to the history of photography, from Egyptology to modern architecture, and from the exquisite gems and jewellery of the Arabian Gulf and Mughal India to contemporary art.

Featuring wonders of natural history, prized antiquities, treasures of the Islamic world and works of contemporary art, A Falcon’s Eye: Tribute to Sheikh Saoud Al Thani reveals the passionate commitment of the legendary collector who helped form the Qatar Museums collections.

A Falcon’s Eye will run until April 10 2021 and features approximately 300 objects, some of which have never before been exhibited to the public. They range in date from the prehistoric Holocene period to the early 2000s and in geography from South America and Europe to the Arabian Gulf and China. These sweeping displays are presented in distinct, thematic groups reminiscent of the “cabinets of curiosities” that individual collectors assembled in the centuries before the first modern museums were established.

The exhibition fills the Museum of Islamic Art’s first-floor temporary exhibition space, which will be named in honour of Sheikh Saoud. It extends into the fourth-floor galleries and balcony. A small selection of objects has also been incorporated into the galleries as part of the Museum of Islamic Art’s permanent collection. A Falcon’s Eye: Tribute to Sheikh Saoud Al Thani has been curated by Dr Hubert Bari (Qatar Museums Curatorial Consultant) and Dr Mounia Chekhab-Abudaya (MIA’s Curator for North Africa and Iberia). ✤

GO: VISIT WWW.MIA.ORG.QA FOR MORE INFORMATION.