Near East
The strength of this collection lies in John Carter's donation of material from Oman. However, there are also interesting individual pieces such as a finely made Palestinian woollen bisht that was donated to the museum by Sir John Bowring in the late 19th century.
In 2009, RAMM was fortunate to acquire a large hand woven tapestry from the renowned Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre near Cairo in Egypt. This spectacular piece is called Field and Village on the Nile. It measures 2.90m x 1.80m and was completed by artist Mahrous Abdou in 2009. It took him approximately 6 months to complete.
Members of the public will be able to view this splendid work in the Islam and Arab World case of the World Cultures gallery when the museum reopens again. This new acquisition was made possible with the help of the Ramses Wissa Wassef Trust, The Arts Fund, the V&A Purchase Grant Fund, FEMAG and Dr. Jenny Balfour-Paul.
