Presenter(s): Elmira Louie − Comparative Literature, English
Faculty Mentor(s): Vera Keller
Oral Session 3O
Research Area: Humanities
This talk offers a material cultural analysis of a hitherto unstudied Persian manuscript in UO’s collection, identifying the city and cultural context of its production. This manuscript went on an incredible journey. In 1615 CE, the Burgess MS 43 manuscript of Sa’di’s Gulistan and Bustan was created in Persia. At some point in its life, the manuscript was transported to Europe, where the original Persian leather binding was swapped for a more European style: soft, red velvet with two silver clasps. According to a book seller’s catalogue entry, this manuscript once belonged to John Ruskin, the preeminent art theorist of Victorian England; the binding of the manuscript, which its not typical for Persian bindings, suggests the Orientalist lens through which it was once viewed. Using the approaches of material culture studies and the history of the book, this talk recoups the manuscript from its Orientalist past and restores it to its original culture of production and consumption in the Safavid book arts. Taking a journey back to the 17th century Persian context reveals that this manuscript was created by a team of artists, illuminators, and scribes in a Shiraz kitabkhana for a member of the wealthy elite.