Student Series Lecture Evening Wednesday 15th May

Next week's student series starting at 6.30pm on Wednesday 15th May includes two talks on Islamic art from doctoral candidates in the Department of the History of Art and Archaeology at SOAS. Tanja Toler will speak on 'Early Islamic Enamelled Glass and its Iconography' and Sami De Gios will present 'Being a Sultan in Style: Calligraphy and Decoration in the Arts of the Late Mamluk Period'.

Tanja Tolar is currently a PhD candidate at the Department of the History of Art and Archaeology at SOAS. Her thesis is entitled Islamic enamelled glass and its connections with Byzantium and Venice. She holds Master degrees in Medieval Studies from Central European University in Budapest and History of Art at SOAS. Her main research interest is pre-modern Mediterranean art with a special focus on the interrelationship between the European and the Islamic medieval art objects and their iconography. She has recently completed an internship at the Courtauld Gallery where she has researched Spanish lustreware from 16th century Manises.



Image copyright - Museum of Islamic Art, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

In summary of her talk, Tanja says:

The beautiful and colourful painterly technique of Islamic enamelling on glass has been for decades in the focus of glass research, yet many questions relating to its origin and production persist. Traditionally linked to Syria and Egypt, dated to Ayyubid and Mamluk patronage the large corpus of glass objects and numerous fragments has no strict chronology. Until recently, when the well known gilded bottle in the British Museum was connected to the famous blue glass bottles of Byzantine production, the involvement of Byzantium in enamelled and gilded glass production has been difficult to trace. The technique of iconographic details painted and scratched on the surface is an element that seemingly connects Islamic and Byzantine glass production of the late 12th and early 13th centuries. Seljuk art after the Constintinople’s collapse of 1204 brings into play a new visual world with typical Islamic iconographic motifs (dancers, musicians and different animals) on glass, while Italian mercantile activities foster dissemination of luxury glass objects across the Eastern Mediterranean and beyond.

This paper will look into early 13th century economy in the Eastern Mediterranean, pose questions of historical relations and political rivalry between Constantinople and its neighbouring countries, as well as delve into trade relations between Byzantium, the Seljuk sultanate and the Italian city states. The Venetian-Seljuk treaty of 1220 had implications on trade relations between the two political entities and questions of how such mercantile business might have influenced a development of glass production in the region will be addressed. The focus will be on blue glass bottles, attributed to Byzantine glass production and decorated with gilding and enamelling that can be linked to the earliest Islamic enamelled and gilded objects and fragments. These depict iconographical motifs and historical narratives, and their close connections with contemporary objects in other media, most significantly ceramics and metal, will be discussed.

Our second speaker, Sami De Giosa, studies Business Economics at Royal Holloway and after a stint working in finance between London and Dubai took an MA in Middle Eastern History at Birkbeck whilst working on cultural projects for Westminster Council. He has also completed a MA in History of Art at SOAS where he’s currently trying to complete his PhD on ‘the decorative revival during the late Mamluk period’. He spent his fieldwork year in Cairo where he was a guest researcher at the Netherlands Flemish Institute. Sami is currently working on updating the database of Mamluk metalwork at the V&A and at the BM, and is in the process of publishing a research report for the Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL) bulletin.

Image Copyright: © Christie's Images Limited (1990)

Summarizing his talk 'Being a Sultan in Style: Calligraphy and Decoration in the Arts of the Late Mamluk Period' he says:

The Mamluk Sultan Qaytbay (r. 1468-96) was instrumental in the revitalization of art and architecture in the late Mamluk period. Three crafts, metalwork, manuscript illumination, and carpet weaving, display a depth in artistic creation comparable to that of the Golden Age of Mamluk art which happened more than 100 years before Qaytbay. This paper is focused on two decorative features on metalwork described by Melikian-Chervani as hallmarks of the period: pincer-topped engraved inscriptions and three-petal fleuron. Moreover, their development and revival under Qaytbay will be discussed.

The lectures will start at 6.30pm and will be followed by a question and answer session and a drinks session. The event is free and all are welcome. For directions to the society please visit our website or for more information contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org or 02073884539.

Rosemary Seton book launch Friday 10th May 18.30

We are delighted to host the launch of Rosemary Seton's recently published book 'Western Daughters in Eastern Lands, British Women Missionaries in Asia' on Friday 10th May from 6.30pm. The evening will include an illustrated talk by Rosemary, short contributions from Dr Emily Manktelow (University of York) and Dr Frances Wood (British Library) and a wine reception. Copies of the book will be available to purchase at a specially discounted price of £20 on the night.

Published in 2013 by Praeger, the book takes us to the era stretching between William Wilberforce and Mahatma Gandhi when many hundreds of British women, in a unique venture of Christian womanhood, travelled to remote regions of the world. There, often against a backdrop of civil unrest, famine or war, they set up schools and colleges, ran medical centres and hospitals and trained teachers, medical staff and evangelists. They came from a variety of denominations - Anglican, Baptist, Congregational, Methodist and Presbyterian. Some were married, many were not. Comparatively little has appeared in print about the cultural and spiritual agency of these women and their evolving role within the wider missionary movement. This book is one of the first to offer an historical overview, focusing on the women’s activities in the Indian sub-continent and China. It also examines the organization and support of their work at home.

The author draws upon memoirs, letters, diaries and mission records to reveal a complex and fascinating story. A clear picture of the women emerges: their social background and motivation; their training and preparation; their journeys out and their lives on the mission field; their place in male-dominated mission hierarchies and their interaction with local peoples through their educational, evangelistic, and medical agency. The wider context is also explored: the emerging dominance in the twentieth century of the American missionary movement, the British imperial presence and the developing nationalist movements in China and India.

If you would like to attend this launch or for more information please RSVP to Helen Porter hp@royalasiaticsociety.org. For directions to the Society visit our website.

*Text about the book taken from publishers flyer.

The Jones collection of botanical drawings at the RAS

Kathy Lazenbatt, Librarian of the Royal Asiatic Society, was recently invited to present a paper at the 'Botany and British India Study Day' held at the British Library. She showcased the wonderful collection of botanical drawings, now in the possession of the RAS, which belonged to Sir William Jones (1746-94) and his wife Lady Anna Maria Jones.




RAS 089.010 Engraving of Sir William Jones based on
original by A.W. Devis

  The collection includes drawings by Indian artists, most notably Zain al-Din and drawings by Lady Jones herself. Records for this collection are available on the RAS online catalogue, based on the work of Dr. Henry Noltie who examined the drawings and gave us the necessary botanical information to create the records, in most cases they include thumbnail images of the drawings.

The letters of Sir William Jones show that he first developed an interest in botany shortly after arriving in India when he was convalescing after an illness. His doctor had suggested that Jones undertake some gentle activity such as examining plants and lent him a copy of a work by Linnaeus. This soon developed into a pastime which husband and wife could enjoy together, with Sir William examing and describing the plants and Lady Anna Maria illustrating them. Watercolour painting and sketching were considered very suitable leisure activities for English ladies at that time.

The couple also collected botanical drawings by Indian artists - two of the RAS drawings are signed by Zain al-Din and 11 others can be ascribed to him with varying degrees of certainty. The quality of the drawing and colouring in his works is incredibly high, his skills had no doubt developed as a painter in the Mughal style and were now being adapted for European-style botanical art. Zain al-Din had already been employed by Sir Elijah Impey, Chief Justice in Calcutta just before Jones' arrival, and his wife Lady Mary Impey. He was one of a number of Indian artists in Calcutta who were producing this kind of work for British patrons.

Below are two of the drawings from the RAS collection which are actually signed by Zain al-Din. The exceptionally fine drawing and colouring is obvious, the close up views show the way he was able to create a wonderful sense of texture on the leaves.

RAS 025.075 Drawing of Dillenia indica (025.075) signed by Zain al-Din

RAS 025.008 Drawing of Saraca asoca - the Ashoka tree
signed by Zain al-Din



Detailed view of the leaves of the Ashoka Tree (RAS 025.008)



Botanical drawings by other Indian artists in the Jones collection include the below Wrightia tinctoria, probably done by an artist working at the Calcutta Botanic Garden. This one, like many botanical drawings done at this time were used for engravings which appeared in the earliest printed journals that disseminated knowledge of India in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, such as Oriental Repertory and Asiatick Researches, which are also held in the library of the RAS.



Drawing of Wrightia tinctoria (RAS 025.071) which is most likely
the orginal for the illustration which appeared in the Oriental Repertory.  

Engraving from Oriental Repertory, 1793, based upon
the above drawing from our collection

Returning to Sir William and Lady Jones, below is one of her own drawings. Although it appears a rather amateur attempt at botanical illustration, her sketchbook gives us a fascinating insight into how she and Sir William worked together on the description and illustration of plants, many of which grew in the garden of their house in Krishnagar.

RAS 025.064 Lady Jones' drawing of Plumeria rubra (the frangipani plant) 

Most of Lady Jones' sketches have brief descriptions of the plant's leaves, flowers, seeds and growing habit, and names in Latin, Sanskrit and Bengali, which appear to be in Sir William's handwriting. One such note mentions that one of the plants is referred to in the first act of Sakuntala, the play by Kalidasa, which had caused a sensation in Europe and been a key moment in creating an awareness in the west of the riches of classical Sanskrit literature.



Title page of Jones' translation of the Sakuntala published in
London in 1790, also held in the collections of the Society.

A page from Lady Jones' sketch book which includes a note
by Sir William about the Sakuntala

The Jones collection of botanical drawing  is illustrative of the myriad ways in which Oriental scholars of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth explored and expressed their interest in Asia and also highlights the role of the Royal Asiatic Society as a repository for the results of their endeavours. The library is open for visitors on Tuesdays and Fridays (10.00 - 17.00) and Thursday (14.00 - 17.00). If you would like any more information about the Jones collection please contact library@royalasiaticsociety.org or phone 02073919424.

Thanks to our librarian Kathy Lazenbatt, whose talk provided much of the content for this blog post.

For further information about Botany and British India material held at the British Library and to view digital copies of it, please visit the list of materials on the BL website.

All images in this post, copyright of the Royal Asiatic Society.

Next Student Series Evening Wednesday April 17th

Wednesday April 17th sees the continuation of our student series with a double lecture evening starting at 6.30pm. Dhara Anjaria from Royal Holloway will be speaking on 'Marginalised colonials? Non-British European Powers in India vis-à-vis the British' and Katherine Hughes from SOAS will talk about 'Birds and the Bevelled Style: Early Islamic Carved Wood from the Upper Zerafshan Valley'. 

Dhara Anjaria read History at the University of Melbourne, and completed her doctorate at Royal Holloway College, University of London, UK. Her research interests are nineteenth century European imperialism in Asia and the nature of the colonial state, in particular its administrative and political facets. She is currently working on an account of George Curzon’s Indian Viceroyalty (1899–1905) as well as researching a comparative account of the diverse European colonial powers in South East Asia between 1800–1914. She is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.



From the Royal Asiatic Sociery Collection 090.007
Madhu Rao Narayan in Durbar 6 August, 1790.
Artist, Thomas Daniell. Engraver, Thomas Daniell.



Summarizing her talk she says:

The Portuguese, French, Dutch and Danish maintained colonies on a subcontinent that was largely under British rule; in fact, many of these powers preceded the British, and  the British had to beat them to gain the mastery of India. These colonial powers, and their enclaves, came to be viewed as a space that was different from, and perhaps a counterpoint to, British India- for instance a fugitive from British justice might flee to a princely state, but he could also flee into any of the other European territories.

Over time, however, it was the British who came to constitute the ‘colonial mainstream;’ however fiercely these powers defended their territories and their jurisdictions, by the late nineteenth century, the British exercised an overall hegemony over the subcontinent, creating a situation where the other colonial powers occupied simultaneously positions of power and submission.  How did the inhabitants of these enclaves, whether ‘native’ or European, view themselves vis-à-vis those who lived in British India?

This paper thus posits that it was not just ‘colonised’ peoples who were subject to the British colonial gaze. From the early accounts of harried English traders and factors complaining of attempts on their lives and goods by Portuguese and French rivals to the Viceroy George Curzon rendering as exotic and ‘disordered’ the officials and dignitaries of  the Estado da India in the same manner that he did the Indians, European powers in India were placed on a continuum of non-Englishness that also included ‘Eurasians' and the Indians."

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Our second speaker, Katherine Hughes, is currently a PhD candidate at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Here thesis is entitled Samanid material culture and identities formation in post-Soviet Tajikistan. She completed an MA in Museum Studies at University College London (UCL) and before that a BA in Archaeology of Western Asia, also at UCL. She worked as a digital curator in museums in London and France, including the London Transport Museum and the Museum of London. She then managed the Institute of Ismaili Studies website, where she was lucky to meet and work with many Tajiks. She spent over nine months in Central Asia in 2010-11 on fieldwork. During this time she investigated Samanid period architecture and museum displays in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as well as discussing Samanid material culture with different interest groups. She has also been researching modern material culture and how it is used in identity formation in post-Sovient Tajikistan. The Zerafshan valley trip in Summer 2011 was a high point of her research, because of the extraordinary richness of the medieval material, the region's fascinating contemporary culture and the kindness of the people she met there.

The Obburdon Mosque, Upper Zerafshan, Tajikistan

The Obbordun Column, State Museum of History of Uzbekistan (Tashkent, 9-11th Century) 

Of her talk, Katherine says:

"Carved wooden artefacts dating to the Early Islamic period have been found in village mosques in the mountainous upper Zerafshan Valley in central Tajikistan. Known as Buttam/ Buttamon in the tenth century, the region was part of ancient Sogdia. These objects include columns from Obburdon, Rarz, Fatmev, Kurut and Urmitan, a console from Sangiston as well as the spectacular Iskodar mihrab. On fieldwork research in 2011, I was able to visit many of these village mosques of the upper Zerafshan, and was able to see that there is still a rich local tradition of woodworking.

These pieces, most of which are now in museums in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, were kept in the mosques until removed by Russian anthropologists in the early twentieth century. They are relatively unknown in western art history and raise questions as to how and why these superb early pieces were created for buildings in such seemingly inaccessible mountain villages.

The ornamental carving includes zoomorphic elements such as stylised birds’ heads and images of fish as well as the bevelled style most famously known as Style C from the Samarra stuccowork. The Iskodar mihrab, one of the oldest extant in Central Asia, is in the form of a pishtaq, and has swastikas as part of its rich iconography, as well as a kufic inscription in Arabic. Its keel-shaped arch also reminds us of Indian architecture of 5 – 7^th centuries from the Ajanta and Ellora caves.  This paper is interested in how these artefacts blend an autochthonous style linked to the pre-Islamic culture of the region, with elements of a caliphal Reichstil from Samarra and other influences. Some suggestions as to the reasons behind this stylistic fusion will also be given by placing these artefacts in their historical context."

The student series event is free and open for all so please join us. For directions to the RAS please visit our website and if you need further details contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org or telephone 0207 3884539.



Next RAS Lecture - Thursday April 11th 6pm 'African Soldiers, Governors, Nawabs and Cultural Brokers in South Asia'

We look forward to welcoming Dr Shihan de Silva from the Institute of Commonwealth Studies (University of London) to the RAS to deliver the next lecture of our main series on Thursday 11th April 'African Soldiers, Governors, Nawabs and Cultural Brokers in South Asia'.

Dr de Silva is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies having completed a PhD in Linguistics, an MSc in Finance and a BSc Hons in Economics from the University of London.  She is a member of the International Scientific Committee of the UNESCO Slave Route Project:  Liberty, Resistance and Heritage and also served in the bureau as the elected Rapporteur of the Project. Migration and diasporas in the Indian Ocean have been central to Dr de Silva’s research and she has published widely in peer-reviewed international academic journals.  She is the author of six monographs including:  The Portuguese in the East:  A Cultural History of a Maritime Trading Empire (I B Tauris, London, 2008),  African Identity in Asia: Cultural Effects of Forced Migration (Markus Wiener Publishers: Princeton, New Jersey, 2008) and The African Diaspora in Asian Trade Routes and Cultural Memories (Edwin Mellen Press, UK, 2010).  

 

In summary of her lecture she writes:

"Unlike African movement across the Atlantic, the easterly migration of Africans to Asia has been far less recognised. African traders and missionaries moved voluntarily to Asia.  Free movement of Africans did not stop whilst the slave trade moved Africans involuntarily. African soldiers were a valuable asset in South Asia.  From being palace guards and elite slaves, Africans rose to positions of authority and even governed parts of India.  Through their strategic capabilities and democratic system of electing leaders based on ability rather than purely on heredity, Africans entrenched power and ruled, until India’s independence,  the States of Sachin (for over hundred and fifty years) and Janjira (for three hundred and thirty years).  African elites lost political power but they still live in India.  Assimilation and marginalisation have made Africans invisible.  Their cultural traits have been transformed or lost, but their cultural memories are strong in music and dance,  codes and signifiers of their African heritage.  More importantly music and dance enable them to carve out a niche and negotiate a place for themselves in contemporary society."

The lecture will start at 6pm and will be followed by a Q and A session and a drinks reception. It is free and open for everyone! For more information please contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org or telphone 02073884539.
 

British Georgian Society - Annual Rustaveli Lecture at the RAS - Tuesday 12th March

The Royal Asiatic Society is delighted to host the British Georgian Society's  first annual Rustaveli lecture on Tuesday 12th March at 7pm. Prof. Rudi Matthee, from the Department of History, University of Delaware, will deliver the lecture 'Safavid Iran and Georgia: How the Dominated Came to Dominate'.

Prof. Matthee teaches Middle Eastern history, with a research focus on early modern Iran and the Persian Gulf. His recent publications include Portugal, the Persian Gulf and Safavid Persia co-edited with Jorge Flores and published by Peeters in 2011 and The Monetary History of Iran, 1500-1925 due for publication in the spring of 2013. He was the President of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies, 2009-2011.

Summarizing his lecture says:

"In the course of the sixteenth century the rulers of Safavid Iran incorporated much of the southern Caucasus, including the lowlands of Georgia, into their realm. This conquest had momentous repercussions for Georgia as well as for Iran. It gave the Georgians one more outside party to deal with and play off against other foreign power with an interest in the Caucasus, the Ottomans and the Russians. Iran, in turn, was flooded with Georgians. Iran’s rulers sought to strengthen their hold over Georgia by intermarrying with its elite. This practice filled the harems of the Safavid elite, including that of the shah himself, with Georgian spouses and concubines.  Eager to offset the domineering and frequently destructive influence of the tribal Qezelbash, they also used the Caucasus as a recruiting ground for the formation of an alternative administrative and military slave elite. Many of these so-called gholams were Georgian as well. In the course of the seventeenth century their numbers would grow to the point where, by century’s end, the most prominent administrative and military positions in the Safavid realm were held by Georgians.

This talk offers an overview and analysis of this process of reverse “colonisation.” It will address the ways in which Georgian women, holding on to their Christian beliefs, came to influence religious practices at the royal court.  It will chart the entry of the gholams into the ranks of the Safavid bureaucracy and military. And it will show how, ultimately, the introduction of the Georgians created as many problem as it solved: it helped Iran’s rulers sideline the unruly Qezelbash, strengthening the country’s military, but it also complicated the system’s already complex ethno-religious makeup, with repercussion that would play out most dramatically on the early eighteenth-century Afghan frontier." 

The event is free for British Georgian Society and Royal Asiatic Society members. Non members will be charged £5. Th lecture will be followed by Georgian wine and canapes. If you need further details please contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org and for directions to the Society please visit our website.

Next RAS Lecture - Gender and Sexuality in Indonesian Cinema - Thursday March 14th 6pm

The main RAS lecture series continues on Thursday March 14th with Dr. Ben Murtagh, Senior Lecturer in Indonesian and Malay at SOAS, speaking on 'Gender and Sexuality in Indonesian Cinema: New Order Constructions of gay, lesbi and waria Identities on Screen.'

Image from the film poster for the 1978 Indonesian Film Betty Bencong Slebor 

Dr. Murtagh's current research focuses on constructions of non-normative sexual and gender identities in Indonesian film and literature. His forthcoming book, Genders and Sexualities in Indonesian Cinema, will be published by Routledge in August 2013. Ben is also managing editor of the journal Indonesia and the Malay World.

In summary of his talk he says:

"A number of films made in Indonesia since 1998 have been noted for their positive images of alternative genders and sexualities. Many commentators and critics have welcomed these movies as representing a welcome break from constructions of gay, lesbi and waria (male to female transgender) identities during the New Order period (1966-98), which are often written off as universally negative and pathologising. This lecture will take a fresh look at a number of those films and propose that it is time for a reappraisal of this view. Not only do the films reflect the emergence and growing visibility of sexual and gender minorities in Indonesian cities, but so too they often suggest a genuine desire to engage with social prejudices and difficulties which gay, lesbi and waria Indonesians were perceived to face. Drawing on archival research, interviews, focus groups and analysis of the films themselves, the lecture will invoke new and queer ways of looking at cinematic constructions of alternative genders and sexualities in Indonesia.The Lecture will be accompanied by a number of images and short clips from representative films."

The lecture will start at 6pm and will be followed by a question and answer session. It is free and all are welcome. For more information contact info@royalasiaticsociety.org and for directions to the society visit our website.