NEW YORK.- The Museum of Arts and Design announced today that collectors Daniel and Serga Nadler have made a promised gift of their renowned
jewelry collection to the Museum. This unparalleled collection encompasses approximately 800 modern and contemporary works in silver from around the world. The Nadler Collection will enhance and expand the Museum’s existing jewelry collection, which will be displayed in MAD’s new home at Columbus Circle in the Tiffany & Co. Foundation Jewelry Gallery, a groundbreaking facility dedicated to the study and presentation of contemporary jewelry.

The Nadler Collection is one of the most comprehensive holdings of tribal, ethnic, and contemporary jewelry in the world. Acquired over the course of 30-years on collecting expeditions in such countries as Egypt, Morocco, Greece, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, China, Mexico, and the Western United States, it features superbly designed and crafted, yet mostly anonymously made, body ornaments of silver and other materials. This collection resonates with design issues explored in MAD’s collection of studio jewelry, which consists primarily of non-precious materials from the United States and abroad and dates from the mid-20th century onward.

Daniel Nadler states, “Serga and I are very pleased to present our jewelry collection to the Museum of Arts and Design as a promised gift. We are honored to join the roster of distinguished donors who have contributed to its diverse expressions of craftsmanship.”

Holly Hotchner, the Nanette L. Laitman Director of the Museum of Arts and Design, added, “The Nadler Collection is a timely and important gift for the Museum as we expand our collections and exhibition programs to more fully reflect the global significance of art and design today. Rather than focusing solely on ethnographic considerations behind these works, the Museum will present the Nadler Collection alongside the work of jewelry artists and designers so that visitors will be able explore the similarities and differences in process, materials, shape and form.”

Highlights from the Nadler Collection will be exhibited as part of Forward Thinking: Building the MAD Collection, a special exhibition of recent and promised gifts that will be on view at MAD’s new home when it opens on September 27. Featured works include a talozimt, an ornamental clasp used to hold together Beni Yenni women’s clothing. This beautifully enameled brooch, ornamented with coral cabochons, comes from the Great Kebiliye Mountains of northern Algeria. Also from North Africa is a pair of heavy silver cuffs from the Ziz and Draa Valleys, south of the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, whose defensive purpose is evident.

Among the most impressive adornments in the Nadler Collection is a pair of silver anklets from India, each weighing 900 grams (or almost 2 pounds). These elegant anklets were made in the westernmost part of Gujarat, the Rann of Kutch, in Western India. Their size and weight reflect the importance of silver ornaments as a statement of both fashion and status.

Equally impressive is a hook fashioned by the Dong nationality of Guizhou Province in southeastern China. The Dong and the Miao wore these hooks on their fronts or backs to fasten shawls used for carrying loads; sometimes they used these singly, but also used a set of hooks, interlocking their spirally wound cones.

Ursula Neuman, the MAD curator of jewelry, said, “This extraordinary collection documents the highest standards of craftsmanship and the powerful traditions of jewelry design around the world.”

Serga Nadler stated, “As New Yorkers we are delighted that our collection of wearable art will be housed in such a beautiful new museum on Columbus Circle. We look forward to assisting MAD in developing the next generation of collectors, connoisseurs, and scholars of global jewelry.”

Daniel Nadler was born in Egypt of European parents. He graduated from Cornell University as a civil engineer and spent most of his career in construction, which gave him the opportunity to travel throughout the world. While working in Iran, he met Serga, who was born in Tehran to Armenian and German parents. Today, Mrs. Nadler is an active volunteer docent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Both Nadlers are accomplished photographers, as well as authors. Together the couple has written Silver: From Fetish to Fashion, which features personal commentary and photographs of the universe of silver adornments and beads. This book includes illustrations of many of the jewels from their collection, as displayed by their original wearers. Silver: From Fetish to Fashion will be available at the MAD Store when it opens in September.

In addition, Mr. Nadler is the author and photographer of China to Order: Focusing on the 19th Century and Surveying Polychrome Porcelain Produced During the Qing Dynasty 1644-1908, a volume based on the couple’s extensive collection of Chinese Export porcelains. Mr. Nadler has also published Iran the Beautiful, which features his photographs from Iran, and Arathusa, which documents a safari in South Africa.