The Rise & Rise of Islamic Arts

The Rise & Rise of Islamic Arts: 

Edward Gibbs was appointed Head of the Islamic Department in London in July 2003 from his previous role as Director of the Islamic and Indian art courses at Sotheby's Institute. A graduate of Cambridge and SOAS, Mr. Gibbs lectured for many years at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and worked in the Middle East department at Bernard Quaritch. He has been published extensively on Islamic art and brings a wealth of experience to this role. His publications include a catalogue raisonné of the Iznik collection at the British Museum.

Roxane Zand, educated at Harvard (BA) and Oxford (DPhil) began a career in museum and arts administration in 1978 after three years in UNESCO. She left Iran in 1980 and resumed professional activities in London in the field of education, mainly with Oxford University's Queen Elizabeth House and also as one of the founding members of the Executive Committee of the Harvard Club of London. She was an Executive Officer of the Iran Heritage Foundation before moving to Asia House as their Special Projects Director where she remained for 7 years. Roxane continues to act as Senior Advisor to the Board of SEO London (www.seo-london.com) after a term as its Executive Director from 2002-2003. She worked as an Editor of the Greater Encyclopaedia of Islam at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, as well as working freelance on numerous PR, marketing and fundraising projects for the art world, before joining Sotheby’s in 2006 as its Director for the Middle East and Gulf.