Prince Sadruddin was an avid collector of art from various civilizations of the Muslim world including Persia , Mughal India , and Ottoman lands. He began collecting Islamic art in the 1950s when he was a student at Harvard University . An exhibition of his collection was organized by the British Museum (January 22 to April 12, 1998) in London, UK, and was accompanied by a catalogue of 145 pieces from the collection. In the Forward to the catalogue, Prince Sadruddin stated:
“My first awareness of art from the Islamic world goes back to the library of the Villa Jane-Andree at Cap d’Antibes, where my parents spent much time before and after the Second World War. It was a musty and dark place. The curtains were often drawn to prevent the Mediterranean sun from bleaching the huge 14th-century Mamluk Qur’an which lay open on the rosewood stand, usually at the beginning of ‘Surat-ul-Nas,’ which my father never tired of quoting. I was fascinated by the power of its calligraphic counterpoint, the diacritics and the illuminations . . . the burnished pages and their dark corners . . . . .exuded a special mystery which I never forgot . . . . Many years have passed and the world is a different place, but my love of Arab manuscripts and Persian and Indian paintings has never ceased. .It is my hope that Princes, Poets & Paladins will spread a timeless message, one befitting the halls of the British Museum .”
Mawlana Hazar Imam announced that this collection will be housed in the Aga Khan Museum to be built in Toronto .
A floral fantasy India. c. 1650
Ibrahim Mirza’s garden party. Iran , 1582