CONF 21.09.2011

Oriental Silks in Medieval Europe (Riggisberg, 29. Sep – 1. Oct 2011)

Riggisberg (CH), Abegg-Stiftung, 29.09.–01.10.2011

Regula Schorta

International colloquium "Luxusgewebe des Orients im westlichen Mittelalter / Oriental Silks in Medieval Europe"
Riggisberg, Abegg-Stiftung, 29.9.-1.10.2011

During the Middle Ages various kinds of luxury objects originating in the East-–figured silks, ceramics, metal and glass vessels, but also paper—reached Europe via the Silk roads, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, be it as presents in diplomatic exchange or as merchandise. In particular the elaborately patterned, often gold-enriched silks from the Middle East, Central Asia or China were much sought after. Until today, many of them can be found in European church treasuries and museum collections.
The colloquium aims at bringing together the research on Eastern luxury textiles in Western Europe accomplished during the last years in various fields. The single achievements concerning technology, pattern evolution, and processing of the silks shall be highlighted in view of the multifaceted exchange between East and West. Only rarely direct bridges can be built connecting textiles preserved in the West with their patrons or donators in the East. To further clarify the specific character of the contribution and reception of Eastern textiles in Western Europe, objects preserved and used in the West shall be confronted with textiles or garments found in the East and reflecting their use there.
Using a wide perspective, the colloquium asks for continuity and change in the adoption and reception of Eastern silks in Western culture. Thus, the survey of the Middle Ages will start in Carolingian and Ottonian times, put a certain emphasis on the time of the Mongol Empire, and end with an outlook on the use of (Western) luxury textiles at the court of the Ottoman Sultans at the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century.

Programme

Thursday, 29.09.2011
Afternoon

Introduction
Juliane von Fircks (in collaboration with Regula Schorta)

Michael Alram (Vienna)
The Impact of Sassanid Persia on the Political and Economic Situation along the Silk Road

Regula Schorta (Riggisberg)
Central Asian Silks in East and West in the Second Half of the First Millennium

Anna Bücheler (Toronto/Rottweil)
Textile Material – Textile Meaning: Silk-inspired Pages in Medieval German Manuscripts

Evening lecture (open to the public)
Jaroslav Folda (Chapel Hill)
Chrysography on the Drapery of the Virgin: Icon to Altarpiece in the Thirteenth Century

Friday, 30.09.2011:
Morning

Isabelle Dolezalek (Berlin)
Ornament between East and West: Same Form – Same Function? A Comparative Study of Arabic Writing on Textiles from Norman Sicily and Fatimid Egypt

Irena Vladimirsky (Achva)
Indian Guests at the Court of the Moscow Tsar: Community of Indian Merchants in Astrakhan', ninth to fourteenth centuries

David Jacoby (Jerusalem)
Silks at the Time of the Mongols: Aspects of East-West Trade

Joyce Denney (New York)
Clothing from the Mongol Empire, with Particular Reference to China and Gold-Woven Textiles

Caroline Vogt (Riggisberg)
A Central Asian Garment of an Eastern Fabric? A Cloth-of-Gold Garment in the Abegg-Stiftung Collection

Afternoon
Felicitas Schmieder (Hagen)
Western Images of the Mongols. Observations on Clothing of Foreign Peoples on Medieval World Maps

Nicole Cartier (Mont Saint Eloi)
La Chasuble du Chapitre de Ste Aldegonde de Maubeuge (France)

Kristin Böse (Cologne)
Beyond Foreignness – Andalusian Tissues from the Castilian Royal Tombs in S. María de las Huelgas / Burgos

Lisa Monnas (London)
Textiles and Diplomacy in Venice in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries

Saturday, 01.10.2011
Morning

Maria Ludovica Rosati (Pisa)
The so-called Vestments of Benedict XI in Perugia as an Example of “planeta de panno tartarico albo deaurato de opera curioso minuto por totum”. The fourteenth-century Perception of Oriental Textiles in Vatican Inventories and Material Evidences

Katja Schmitz-von Ledebur (Vienna)
“eyn ander Braun Rok mit swarczen Adelarn und eyn Gugel” – The Eagle Dalmatic Belonging to the Coronation Robes of the Holy Roman Empire Made of a Chinese Silk Damask

Evelin Wetter (Riggisberg)
“De panno tartarico» or «de nachone”? Perception of Oriental Silks at the Court of the Bohemian Kings during the Fourteenth Century

Markus Ritter (Zürich)
Changing Iconographies: The Royal Cloth-of-Silk-and-Gold for Sultan Abu Said from Iran in the Burial of Duke Rudolph IV from Austria

Afternoon
Juliane von Fircks (Mainz)
Liturgical Vestments made of Silks from Asia Venerated as Relics of the Emperor – The so-called Heinrichsgewänder in the Alte Kapelle in Regensburg

Birgitt Borkopp-Restle (Bern)
Striped Gold Brocades with Arabic Inscriptions in the Gda?sk Treasury of Liturgical Vestments

Michael Peter (Riggisberg)
A Head Start through Technology. Early Oriental Velvets and the West

Louise Mackie (Cleveland)
Italy and Istanbul – Italian Textiles and the Ottoman Court

Summary
Regula Schorta (in collaboration with Juliane von Fircks)

Registration and further information:
infoabegg-stiftung.ch

Organised by:
Dr. Juliane von Fircks (Universität Mainz)
Dr. Regula Schorta (Abegg-Stiftung Riggisberg)

Location:
Abegg-Stiftung
Werner-Abegg-Str. 67
CH-3132 Riggisberg
0041 31 808 12 01
www.abegg-stiftung.ch

Quellennachweis:
CONF: Oriental Silks in Medieval Europe (Riggisberg, 29. Sep – 1. Oct 2011). In: ArtHist.net, 21.09.2011. Letzter Zugriff 28.03.2024. <https://arthist.net/archive/1885>.

^