
William Robinson
International Specialist Head
London, King Street
One of the most exciting and rewarding moments in a specialist's career is making a significant discovery. This happened to William Robinson when a fax arrived on his desk in October 1993. The poor quality of the fax and its barely discernable outline of a lion did not seem to pave the way to that particular milestone in his career. When he visited the lion in a London warehouse, he knew instantly that he had made a phenomenal find.
The Bronze Lion was the only known companion piece to what is possibly the most impressive piece of Islamic bronze sculpture in existence, the Griffin of Pisa. Christie's sold the lion sculpture for an impressive £2.4 million and set a world auction record for Islamic art.
Mr. Robinson was principally responsible for the extremely successful sale of the Davide Halevim Carpet Collection, which achieved a total of £3,649, 663 (February 2001) and the Bernheimer Family collection of carpets, which totaled £2,123,036 (October 1996). A Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, he hopes to make many more discoveries of lost works of art.
Mr. Robinson is the author of numerous articles for publications such as Apollo and Hali and an internationally recognized lecturer on carpets and Turkish pottery. He is a member of the art committee that organized the exhibition "The Hunt for Paradise: Art of the Early Safavid Period," which opened in the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan and travelled to the British Museum in London and the Asia Society in New York in 2002.
Mr. Robinson is a graduate in Art History and Archaeology from Cambridge University.