Charles Kyrle Wilkinson

Charles Kyrle Wilkinson was a scholar and museum curator, born in 1897 according to the cataloguing data in his book. ¹ He served the Metropolitan Museum of Art for forty-three years. ²

Wilkinson began as an artist copying tomb paintings in Upper Egypt and the Kharga Oasis for the Museum's Egyptian expeditions; in 1953 he was appointed Curator of Near Eastern Archaeology in the Department of Egyptian Art, in 1956 curator of the new Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art, and in 1959 curator of the combined Ancient Near Eastern and Islamic Art departments. ²

Wilkinson made a preliminary investigation of Nishapur before the Museum's expedition began test digs there in 1935. ³ After the team scattered in the Second World War he alone carried on studying the finds, writing articles on the uses, social functions and techniques of Islamic objects and then his book on Nishapur pottery. ⁴