Nasser David Khalili
Professor Nasser D. Khalili is a scholar, collector and philanthropist of international standing, who has often been called the ‘cultural ambassador of Islam’ by leaders of Muslim countries. He is also a real estate investor and a prominent figure among the various real estate investors and property dealers.
David was born to a Jewish family on December 18, 1945 in Esfahan, Iran and grew up in Tehran. After completing his schooling and national service in Iran he moved to the United States of America in 1967, where he continued his education. In 1978 he settled in the United Kingdom.
Since 1970 he has assembled, under the auspices of the Khalili Family Trust, five of the world’s finest and most comprehensive art collections: The Arts of the Islamic World (700-1900), Japanese Art of the Meiji Period (1868-1912), Swedish Textiles (1700-1900), Spanish Damascened Metalwork (1850-1900) and Enamels of the World (1700-2000). Together, the five collections comprise some 25,000 works. Each of the five collections is on its own merit the largest and most comprehensive in the world. The Khalili Collections are fully represented in a series of over 40 volumes, of which 90% have already been published. Selections from each Collection have been exhibited in over 35 world-class museums.
Khalili hopes to promote intercultural and interfaith understanding through art, on the basis that appreciating the art of a culture helps us to appreciate the culture itself. Khalili considers himself a “temporary custodian” of his works. As well as mounting his own exhibitions, he loans generously to museums around the world. He is adamant that anywhere the collection is exhibited it should be available to the largest possible audience. Khalili’s team of art experts at The Nour Foundation researches the artifacts continuously. Such dedication towards gaining an academic understanding of his acquisitions has brought them a scholarly value unmatched by those of other collectors.
Nasser Khalili is a frequent lecturer. He has also made notable contributions to the scholarship of Islamic art, having endowed in 1989, the Nasser D. Khalili Chair of Islamic Art and Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, the first chair devoted to the decorative arts of Islam to be founded at any university. He is Honorary Fellow of Wolfson College, and member of The Chancellor's Court of Benefactors, University of Oxford. He has also supported a research fellowship in Islamic art at the University of Oxford.The Khalili Research Centre for the Art and Material Culture of the Middle East at the University of Oxford was opened in 2005 by the Chancellor Lord Patten, thanks to the significant endowment of the Khalili Family Trust, whose sustaining support continues to the present day, notably with an additional substantial donation in 2011. Nasser Khalili is a graduate, Associate Research Professor and an Honorary Fellow of the University of London. In early 2011 The Trust endowed The Nasser D Khalili Chair of Islamic studies at Queens College New York where Professor Khalili graduated in 1974. He was appointed to the International Board of Overseers at Tufts University, Massachusetts, USA, in 1997 and in 2003 received the honorary degree Doctor of Humane Letters from Boston University. In May 2005 he also received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of the Arts London, and in 2007 he was given the High Sheriff of London award for his cultural contribution to London.
Since 1995 Nasser Khalili is the co-founder and chairman of the Maimonides Foundation, a charity which promotes peace and understanding between the three great monotheistic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
