Collections
Museums
Institutions where Persian and Iranian craft objects can be seen in person or searched online. The summaries are general; check each museum's own site for current galleries, opening times and loans.
- Museums listed
- 11
- Countries
- 5
- Museum photos used here
- 291
Iran
Carpet Museum of Iran
موزه فرش ایرانPersian carpets and flatweaves from several centuries and regions.
Read about it on Wikipedia →Glass and Ceramic Museum of Iran
موزه آبگینه و سفالینههای ایرانIranian glass and ceramics, housed in a Qajar-era building.
Read about it on Wikipedia →Reza Abbasi Museum
موزه رضا عباسیPainting, calligraphy, metalwork and ceramics across Iranian history.
Read about it on Wikipedia →National Museum of Iran
موزه ملی ایرانArchaeology and the Islamic-era collection of Iran.
Read about it on Wikipedia →United States
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Large Islamic art collection including Persian carpets, tiles, manuscripts and metalwork.
Cleveland Museum of Art
Islamic and Iranian textiles, carpets, ceramics, metalwork and paintings; its open-access (CC0) images supply most museum photographs used in this archive.
National Museum of Asian Art (Smithsonian)
Persian manuscripts, paintings and metalwork.
Visit the museum's website →United Kingdom
Victoria and Albert Museum
Home of the Ardabil carpet and a broad collection of Iranian decorative arts.
Visit the museum's website →British Museum
Ancient Iranian objects and Islamic-era works on paper and metal.
Visit the museum's website →France
Musée du Louvre — Department of Islamic Art
Iranian ceramics, metalwork and textiles within the Islamic art department.
Visit the museum's website →Canada
Aga Khan Museum
Islamic arts with notable Persian manuscripts and paintings.
Visit the museum's website →Searching museum collections online
Most objects in these collections are in storage rather than on display, so the online catalogue is usually the better starting point. A few habits make the search far more productive:
- Iran / Persia
- Most catalogues use both. Older records say Persia; newer ones often say Iran.
- Period names
- Seljuq, Ilkhanid, Timurid, Safavid, Zand and Qajar narrow results quickly.
- Production centres
- Kashan, Isfahan, Tabriz, Kerman, Yazd, Nishapur — where a catalogue names the place.
- Material + form
- “fritware bowl”, “silk lampas”, “brass ewer” tend to beat generic craft names.
Before you reuse a museum photo
- Licences differ by museum and by object. Some publish public-domain images as open access (CC0); others allow only non-commercial or editorial use.
- Check the licence on the individual object page, not just the museum's general policy.
- Keep the accession number with the image — it is the only reliable way back to the catalogue record.
- Read a catalogue attribution literally: “Iran or Turkey” or “Persian style” is not a firm Iranian attribution. See how this archive credits photographs.