Saul L. Chafin, chief of University police and a sergeant in the department, travelled to London. England late last week to accompany a collection of 16th century Persian miniatures from the British Library to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

The Fogg Museum sponsored the exhibit's transfer to the United States, including its scheduled opening at the National Gallery on December 16. The Fogg will display the 65-piece exhibit later this spring, Peter Walsh, public information officer at the Fogg, said yesterday.

University officials refused to talk this week about the security arrangements, but sources said the pieces will arrive in Washington on Wednesday.

Daniel Steiner '54, general counsel to the University, said yesterday he asked Chafin to go to England because "I thought he would do a competent job" and the Fogg-sponsored trip would also allow Chafin to see England.

Sources in the police department said yesterday Chafin had left without telling most of the department where he was going, and that revealing his whereabouts would "jeopardize the situation."

The exhibit, entitled "Wonders of the Age: Masterpieces of Early Safavid Paintings, 1501-1576," premiered earlier this year in London.

Stuart Welsh, curator of Muslim and Hindu painting at the Fogg, arranged the U.S. showing. He could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The Safavid dynasty paintings are mostly parts of original manuscripts by anonymous artists, Welsh added.