Workshop on the Role of Eighteenth-Century Indo-Persianate Albums

**Musical and dance performance in the harem, from an Indo-Persianate album of Antoine Louis Polier, I 4594, fol. 19, Delhi or Faizabad before 1777** © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst / Johannes Kramer

**Princess Zib an-Nisa and her companions watching fireworks, from an Indo-Persianate album of Antoine Louis Polier, I 4596, fol. 23, Delhi, 17th century** © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst / Johannes Kramer

Workshop on the Role of Eighteenth-Century Indo-Persianate Albums from 15 to 17 September 2021

07.09.2021
Museumsinsel Berlin

From 15‒17 September 2021 the Museum für Asiatische Kunst and the Museum für Islamische Kunst ‒ Staatliche Museen zu Berlin are jointly hosting a hybrid workshop with online and on-site lectures on the role of Indo-Persianate albums in the 18th century.

The workshop will address the role of Indo-Persianate albums (muraqqaʿs) that were assembled for or collected by the Mughal governors of Awadh (Uttar Pradesh), Shujaʿ al-Daula (reigned 1754–1775) and his successor, Asaf al-Daula (reigned 1775-1797), as well as other local elites in Bengal and Bihar. Europeans also participated in the creation and consumption of albums, as patrons and collectors. In 1882, the Prussian State acquired a group of twenty albums from the twelfth Duke of Hamilton; so far, these artworks have received little study.

Eight of them belonged to the Scottish surgeon and interpreter Archibald Swinton (1731–1804) and ten to the Franco-Swiss engineer and architect Antoine Louis Henri Polier (1741–1795) – both were British East India Company officers deeply acquainted with Indo-Persian aristocratic culture. Many more albums are linked to well-known European figures, such as the Governor-General of Bengal Warren Hastings (1732–1818) and the French Company officer (and special agent to Shujaʿ al-Daula in Faizabad) Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gentil (1726–1799). Numerous interrelated questions arise from the study of this material, concerning audiences, artists, patrons, collectors and their wish to produce and preserve knowledge; these questions are to be discussed in this workshop.

Registration and Participation

The workshop will be held as a combined format with a mix of online and on-site presentations at the Museum of Asian Art and the Museum for Islamic Art in Berlin. The complete programme can be downloaded as a PDF (680 KB).

If you wish to attend the workshop in person, please note that the number of seats at both venues is limited. Advance registration for on-site attendance is essential. Please contact Friederike Weis (f.weis[at]smb.spk-berlin.de).

You are cordially invited to join all presentations. The lectures and discussions are held in English.

Day 1, 15 September, 3:00 pm to 6:20 pm Link for day 1 (Webex)
Day 2, 16 September, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm Link for day 2 (Webex)
Day 3, 17 September, 9:45 am to 3:30 pm Link for day 3 (Webex)

We anticipate that the event will be recorded.

The event is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).