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<font face="Palatino"><b><font face="Palatino">"Sound and
Vision/Word and Image: Islamic Portraiture and its Many Forms"
</font></b><br>
by Yael Rice, PhD, </font><font face="Palatino"><font
face="Palatino">Five College Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in
Islamic Art at Amherst College<br>
</font></font><br>
<font face="Palatino"><font face="Palatino"><font face="Palatino">This
lunch is hosted by CS and the Hampshire College Center for the
Study of Science in Muslim Societies (SSiMS) <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.hampshire.edu/academics/SSiMS.htm">http://www.hampshire.edu/academics/SSiMS.htm</a>
<br>
<br>
</font></font>Abstract:<font face="Palatino"> </font>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. <br>
<br>
Biographical Statement:<font face="Palatino"> </font>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. <br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
<font face="Palatino">IN THE ASH LOBBY<br>
<font face="Palatino">A<font face="Palatino"> light lunch will
be available at noon.</font></font><br>
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
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Paula Harmon, Administrative Assistant <br>
<div class="moz-signature"><small> School of Cognitive Science <br>
Hampshire College<br>
893 West Street Amherst, MA 01002 <br>
phone: 413.559.5502 <br>
fax: 413.559.5438 <br>
<a href="http://cs.hampshire.edu">http://cs.hampshire.edu</a></small>
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