[CS] CS Wednesday Noon Talk March 27, by Yael Rice, PhD, "Sound and Vision/Word and Image: Islamic Portraiture and its Many Forms" in ASH Lobby at noon

[Paula Harmon]

*"Sound and Vision/Word and Image: Islamic Portraiture and its Many Forms" *
by Yael Rice, PhD, Five College Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Islamic 
Art at Amherst College

This lunch is hosted by CS and the Hampshire College Center for the 
Study of Science in Muslim Societies (SSiMS) 
http://www.hampshire.edu/academics/SSiMS.htm

Abstract:It is a widespread misconception that the medieval and 
early-modern arts of the Islamic lands lacked a tradition of figural 
depiction. In fact, illustrated manuscripts from Mosul (Iraq) to Agra 
(India) provide clear evidence of a rich practice of figuration, 
including painted portraits of authors, patrons, and other important 
figures. With several notable exceptions, manuscripts of histories, 
poetic works, biographies, and other texts nevertheless evidence a 
pronounced reliance upon verbal, rather than pictorial, representations 
of likeness. This talk will address the complex relationship between 
textual and pictorial portrait imagery in the book arts of Greater Iran 
and South Asia from the 13th through the 17th centuries, focusing in 
particular on the Mughal court of northern India, which saw a marked 
shift towards a practice of mimetic portraiture rooted in optical, 
sensate experiences.

Biographical Statement:Yael Rice (PhD, University of Pennsylvania) 
specializes in the art and architecture of Greater Iran and South Asia, 
with a particular focus on manuscripts and other portable arts of the 
fifteenth through eighteenth centuries. Currently the Five College 
Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Islamic Art at Amherst College, she 
previously held the position of Assistant Curator of Indian and 
Himalayan Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art from 2009 till 2012. Her 
publications include studies of European engravings and Persian 
calligraphic specimens in Mughal royal albums, the 1598--99 
MughalRazmnama (Book of war), and an 
early fifteenth-century Khamsa (Quintet) of Nizami copied and 
illustrated in the region of Fars, Iran.

Rice's current research concerns physiognomic analysis as a courtly 
and artistic practice, Mughal depictions of imperial dreams, paintings 
made for the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb (r. 1658-1707), and the cultural 
and material history of jade in early modern Central and South Asia.

IN THE ASH LOBBY
Alight lunch will be available at noon.

-- 
Paula Harmon, Administrative Assistant
School of Cognitive Science
Hampshire College
893 West Street Amherst, MA 01002
phone: 413.559.5502
fax: 413.559.5438
http://cs.hampshire.edu
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