Flotsam. Writing the History of Objects Travelling without Texts

Research Seminar

Online Event – Registration Required
Datum: 22.09.2020
Uhrzeit: 15:00 - 17:00
Vortragende: Beate Fricke
Gastgeber: Bibliotheca Hertziana - Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte
Kontakt: boehm@biblhertz.it

Flotsam. Writing the History of Objects Travelling without Texts <i></i><sub></sub><sup></sup>

The celestial globe displays the sky, the silver dots indicate the stars, the engraved lines and inscriptions the constellations. The brass globe, made in Lahore and purchased by Henry Moser during his travels in Central Asia, has not received scholarly attention so far. It belongs to a group of astronomical instruments produced in South Asia, which gained popularity at the Mughal court since the mid-16th century.

But how does the loss of knowledge related to this particular object affect our study of the object itself? Shall we address or remain silent about the gaps in the history of its existence between its making at Lahore, India, the purchase by Henry Moser on his travels since 1883, its participation in exhibitions about the "Orient" in Switzerland, and its conservation since 1922 in the Historische Museum in Bern?

Note: This is an Online Event - Registration Required
In order to attend this event, you are requested to register by email at the latest the day before, 21 September 2020, at the email address: boehm@biblhertz.it
We will reply with the necessary access information for this online research seminar.

Beate Fricke’s research focuses on the history of images, objects and places, using perspectives from philosophy, cultural anthropology, history of the sciences, economy and theology. She received her PhD in History of Art from the University of Trier (2005). Before joining the University of Bern (Switzerland) in 2017, she was Professor for Medieval Art and Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. For her project Global Horizons in Pre-Modern Art she was awarded an ERC consolidator grant (2018-23, www.global-horizons.ch ). She is co-founder and editor of 21-inquiries.eu/en

Scientific organization: Sietske Fransen