"Islamic Art and Patronage," an exhibit of 107 Islamic art objects from the Kuwait National Museum, will open as scheduled on Dec. 9 at the Walters Art Gallery, museum director Robert P. Bergman said yesterday.
Mr. Bergman has had assurances from representatives (now in exile) of both the Kuwait National Museum and the Al-Sabah family, which owns the collection from which the pieces were selected, that the works would travel to the United States from Leningrad next month.
And Joan Michaelson, administrator for the Trust for Museum Exhibitions in Washington, which is organizing the American tour, said the trust has been told by officials of the U.S. Treasury and State departments that the objects will be permitted to enter and leave the country without being seized by the government. The government has prohibited imports from Kuwait and Iraq since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August.
The exhibit has been on loan to the Kuwait museum. There have been reports that the contents of the museum were removed by Iraqi troops, but these 107 pieces were in Leningrad at the time of the invasion of Kuwait.
