The David Collection

Why it is renowned

Its collection of art from the Islamic world, from Spain to India and from the 7th to the 19th century, is one of the largest in Northern Europe and by far the largest of its kind in Scandinavia.¹² Saudi Aramco World put it in its global guide to Islamic art beside the Museum für Islamische Kunst in Berlin and the Louvre, noting that the collection grew tenfold after David's death to more than 2,500 objects.³

The story

Christian Ludvig David, born in 1878, was a Supreme Court barrister who sat on the boards of Danish companies and grew rich from them.⁴ He began buying Danish paintings in the 1910s, then European furniture, faience and porcelain of the 17th and 18th centuries, and Islamic ceramics to set beside them.⁴ In 1917 he bought the house at Kronprinsessegade 30 and lived there, with rooms for his collection on the top floor.⁴ In 1945 he made house and collection an independent foundation, the museum opened in 1948, and on his death in 1960 the foundation inherited his fortune.¹⁴ Kaare Klint designed two porcelain rooms in 1928, and Vilhelm Wohlert added a gallery for Islamic miniatures in the neighbouring house in 1990.¹ The museum reopened on 15 May 2009 after a three-year rebuilding.¹

What to know it by

• Art from the Islamic world²Spain to India, 7th to 19th century
• Older European art¹Furniture, porcelain, silver and paintings of the 17th and 18th centuries
• Kaare Klint's porcelain rooms¹1928Kaare KlintDouglas fir walls and cases, now for the Islamic collection