ART PATRON

hrh princess jawaher bint majed
stately patronage

I could feel the temperature gently fluctuate between different parts of the house – the thermostat finely tuned to protect artworks – and noticed how a group of rare Islamic manuscripts hung underneath a 17th-century Mamluk Qur’an holder, facing Mahmoud Mokhtar’s bronze La Porteuse d’Eau at the base of a winding marble staircase. The afternoon sun’s rays flickered through three Ottoman glass windows – two others of which, I later learn, are part of the Islamic collection of New York’s Metropolitan Museum. Eight paintings of Mecca by French Orientalist Etienne Dinet circled the domed alcove; bathed in beautiful light, they hung above 17th-century Ottoman consoles inlaid with bone and ivory. It felt as though there was a curatorial intent in the house’s overall arrangement. “Your house is like a museum,” I said. “My house is a museum, in terms of light, space, height and circulation,” replied Her Royal Highness Princess Jawaher Bint Majed Al-Saud, daughter of the late Prince Majed Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, who was Emir of Mecca for 21 years.

We sit in one of her favourite rooms, where volumes of books line the shelves, punctuated by framed family photos, sculptures and other artworks. I spot Pablo Gargallo’s bronze Masque de Kiki de Montparnasse – another edition of which is housed in the Louvre – and the Princess regales me with the story of how she purchased it decades ago. On the coffee-table is a copy of Orhan Pamuk’s Museum of Innocence, dotted with Post-It notes. It isn’t too long before one realises that the Princess’s home....