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Honorary Senator Manfred Bumiller began collecting Islamic art in 1980.
One of the Museum’s earliest acquisitions was a bronze mortar. Although parts of the surface are strongly corroded, relief decoration on its upper part showing a gap tooth design – merlons – means in all likelihood it was a product of Saghaniyan. Twenty-seven mortars of this type were found among the Budrach hoard. Mortars were an indispensable accessory of medieval housekeeping. They were also regularly used in making medicines and for a variety of handicrafts.
Cast ewers with pear-shaped bodies and beak-like spouts are other typical examples of items produced in Mawarannahr. Besides their unusual shape, which it is impossible to confuse with other ewers, many of them have an engraved Kufic inscription with the name of the artisan Akhmad. Scholars cannot agree exactly where they were made.
You can learn more about the topic in the book-album "Collections of the Federal Republic of Germany" (volume XI) in the series "Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in the World Collections".
The main sponsor of the project is the oilfield services company Eriell-Group.