A Falcon's Eye: Tribute to Sheikh Saoud Al Thani

Sheikh Saoud’s legacy as a collector is of crucial importance to Qatar Museums, as he laid the foundations of the major collections within the institution. Parts of that collection are on display at MIA, but others remain in storage. This exhibition sheds light on objects that have never been displayed in Qatar before.

Sheikh Saoud was passionate about cabinets of curiosities and the combination between natural history and antiquities in particular. The exhibition will pay tribute to his collecting vision through an eclectic display including natural history, antiquities, jewellery, photography and modern and contemporary artworks that will recall the cabinets of curiosities’ tradition.

Despite the fact that the Gulf region has a longstanding history of collecting practices, Sheikh Saoud can be considered one of the last royals who amassed thousands of very diverse objects for his country with a real passion and eye for arts and culture. To his vast collections, he added a conservation facility to preserve and breed endangered species at his Al-Wabra farm, which gained worldwide admiration.

A Passion for Nature

As a child, Sheikh Saoud discovered the Natural History Museum in London with his mother. Amazed by the huge brontosaurus skeleton in the museum entrance, he would spend hours in the dinosaur gallery. Later, as a young adult, he began to recognise the importance of creating scientific libraries exploring the understanding of the planet’s formation and living species which led to him collecting rare fossils, minerals and first editions of significant natural history books.

Sheikh Saoud developed a special interest in extinct and endangered animals and the development of his farm, including extensive  breeding and animal care facilities, reflected his great desire to save rare species including the Spix’s Macaw, a bird extinct in the wild since 2000.

Cabinets of Curiosities

Sheikh Saoud was fascinated by the great collectors of the past and the 16th-century concept of ‘cabinets of curiosities’ that played a fundamental role in the development of modern science, the classification of the wonders of nature, history and arts. With a real passion for all arts and a sharp eye, he drew inspiration from such cabinets of curiosities, while developing collections for the future museums of Qatar.

Al Wabra Farm

Sheikh Saoud was very concerned by the mass extinctions on our planet. On his family farm, Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation, about 30 km outside Doha, he raised and bred numerous endangered animals, among them rare antelopes, birds of paradise and the Spix’s Macaw from Brazil.

2020 is an important year in the story of the Spix’s Macaw.  In March, over 100 of the birds which have been bred in captivity have been returned to Brazil to be acclimatized before they are released to the wild later in the year.  This is the first time a species has been reintroduced after being declared extinct in the wild and is the culmination of one of Sheikh Saoud’s projects.  For more information, please see www.spixsmacaw.org.

Minerals

In the process of building a comprehensive collection of natural history, Sheikh Saoud took an interest in minerals and precious stones. In fact, many European royal figures assembled mineral specimens in their cabinets of curiosities in the past. The selection in the exhibition, though small, includes some of the most impressive and rarest natural minerals.

Fossils

Sheikh Saoud was captivated by the mass extinction that occurred 65 million years ago, when a meteorite hit the planet. He collected fossils and skeletons that give an insight into life on Earth millions of years ago. Several of the dinosaur skeletons in his collection were unfortunately too large to be included in our exhibition.

A Passion for Egyptology

Sheikh Saoud discovered Ancient Egypt when he studied law in Cairo in the early 1990s. The Egyptian Museum and the archaeological sites in the country opened his eyes to this unique civilization, inspiring him to seek artefacts both on the art market and from private European collections. He collected artworks that reflected the development of Egyptology as a scientific field but his main interest focused on the pharaoh Akhenaten.

The Discovery of Egypt

When Napoleon landed in Egypt on 1 July 1798 with his army, he brought along a group of 150 scientists, engineers and artists to comprehensively document the country. While some artists painted monuments, other members of the expedition recorded the natural resources for the creation of a canal between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The results of this campaign (1798-1801) were published in the Description de l’Egypte, which led to the development of Egyptology as an academic field.

Akhenaten and the Amarna Period

King Akhenaten (r. 1353-1336 BCE, 18th Dynasty of Egypt) and his queen Nefertiti established a new capital in Middle Egypt known today as Tell el Amarna. In a break with tradition, Akhenaten changed the state religion from the worship of many divine beings to the worship of a single deity, the sun disk Aten.  Restricted to the king and his family, this was an early form of monotheism that fascinated Sheikh Saoud.

Death rituals and the afterlife

Death in Ancient Egypt involved complex rituals to ensure immortality to the deceased in their afterlife. Some of those practices are illustrated by objects presented in the funerary section of the exhibition: mummification, weighing the heart and casting magic spells using the Book of the Dead and protective amulets, as well as ornamental offerings for specific deities in temples and funerary buildings.

A Passion for Other Antique Worlds

While Egyptology remained his main focus, Sheikh Saoud was equally fascinated by other ancient civilizations. Most of the masterpieces from this part of the collection date from the Greek and Roman periods. He also collected artefacts from the Ancient Middle East, including Iran and Southern Arabia, as well as South America.  Many of the artefacts feature antelopes, one of Sheikh Saoud’s favourite animals, which demonstrate how his personal interests link his varied collecting practices together.

A Passion for Gold and Jewellery

Sheikh Saoud treasured the natural gifts our planet offers. He collected gemstones, gold, precious minerals, and diamonds, and amassed a superb collection of objects, including exceptional artefacts from pre-Columbian South America, famous for its gold treasures.  He had a particular interest in the rich jewellery tradition of India, and acquired several spectacular pieces set with emeralds, spinels and other precious stones for MIA. 

At the Table of the Collector: Modern and Contemporary Masterpieces

There was always something to be found on Sheikh Saoud’s enormous desk at his farm: whether it was a plate of fresh mangos or the delivery of the day. Crates were unpacked here and very often he would invite guests to attend this exciting discovery of new acquisitions. His large warehouse was a stunning place, with libraries, masterpieces of modern and contemporary art, cars and bicycles, paintings, furniture, and objects with distinguished provenance. This last section of the exhibition allows a small glance into Sheikh Saoud’s abundant wider collections and conveys a sense of his refined vision for constituting Qatar’s national museums.

A Passion for Islamic Art

One of the first collections Sheikh Saoud began was Islamic art, at the request of HH the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. He amassed pieces with the idea of creating a masterpiece collection, of high quality, unique artefacts that reflected the technical mastery of their craftsmen, as well as having a special story behind them. In this beautiful building conceived by I.M. Pei, our visitors discover this civilization through exceptional royal commissions, amongst others, of the Islamic world.

A Passion for Photography

Sheikh Saoud had a passion for all things photographic from the rarest 19th- century prints, through exotic cameras, to contemporary commissions.  His photographs cross all genres, the earliest originating in 1826, a decade before photography was even revealed to the world.  He acquired important individual pieces at public auction and large collections by private sale.  One of his most significant purchases for Qatar Museums was the 136 masterpieces of the renowned Bokelberg collection, several of which appear in the exhibition, while many cameras came via the photographic inventor and collector Fred Spira (1924 – 2007).

Sheikh Saoud’s collections include some of the most iconic images of 20th Century photography.  Among the equipment are NASA cameras and special commissions from renowned lens makers Leica and Zeiss.  Stories of the Sheikh’s adventures are legendary in the photographic world.  Active as a patron, he will long be remembered for establishing the Al Thani award (the top prize for which was a special edition Leica M6 camera).

The exhibition's accompanying publication, available in English and Arabic, showcases 100 of his most important acquisitions, including rare first edition manuscripts, artefacts from ancient Egypt, exquisite jewellery and vintage cameras.