Fundraising 2021 - The Wallace Collection

1ST JANUARY - 31ST DECEMBER 2021

Olympia Auctions were delighted to partner with the Wallace Collection on a fundraising initiative to support the museum and its ongoing research into the Ottoman, Middle Eastern and Asian collections. Inevitably, this project was paused at the beginning of the pandemic and we sought to redress this.

Hertford House is home to one of the finest collections of arms and armour in the world. Beyond Europe, it provides an unusually comprehensive view of other key areas - India, the Ottoman Empire and Iran - spanning the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with star pieces dating from as early as the fifteenth century. The collection holds spectacularly important works, such as a bejewelled dagger thought to be the personal weapon of Shah Jahan, the Mughal Emperor who built the Taj Mahal. However, unlike their internationally renowned European Armouries, these pieces have been little studied - and the only existing catalogue was published in 1914. To address this gap, the Collection has been carrying out a major research project, which will study, conserve, and photograph each object and will culminate in a major landmark publication.

The fundraising reached a total of £48,715 for The Wallace Collection OMEA project.