Islamic Arms and Armor in The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Kubur

I don't think that you got my point. I have Pinchot's catalogue, its a nice and useful book. But the author is not the same caliber than Alexander. One is a researcher, the other is a collector and a dealer like a lot of members on this forum. Alexander can read Arabic or Persian, I think you understand the difference... BUT I have to admit that a lot of collectors and dealers are much more competent than a lot of curators. It's a complicated situation and I do not think that you or me are competent to judge if people are good or bad. And it was not my intention to let you think that. By the way, Alexander mentions page 12 that foreign terms have been kept to a minimum...

Thank you Kubur, I didn't realize you were making a point, and certainly you can be the judge of your own competence, not mine, so I would suggest you revise that comment. Actually many of your posts suggest you have reasonable exposure to our subject, and I very much agree with many of your statements especially regarding the MET, and of course Mr. Alexander.
I can say this as I have considerable regard for him and the many works he has produced which have been most helpful in my own research these past decades.

I don't agree with your comment comparing Mr, Alexander and Oliver Pinchot, especially that Oliver is just a dealer and collector and not a researcher. While I do not know Mr Alexander, I have known Oliver for well over 20 years, and often had the opportunity to work with him on many aspects of weapons being researched. Actually he is quite fluent in reading and writing Arabic and Turkish and has as far as I know good knowledge of Persian as well as many other languages. He is a brilliant scholar and researcher who has consulted with many authors and of course other collectors and dealers in advanced capacity.

I think it is important to remember that curators in museums are often restricted by parameters which place demands in other administrative duties over the research which they would be more than delighted to attend to if having the time.
I am not sure if you have authored anything yourself, but if you have or plan to you will appreciate what my point was and then we will have each understood that of each other. I always have great respect for authors, and the work they put into what they publish. I am under the impression that we both agree on that.