ERC Project: GLOBAL DECO PAPER –Decorated Paper in the Early-Modern Islamicate World: Aesthetics, Techniques and Meaning in Global Contexts

In the ERC project GLOBAL DECO PAPER, Ilse Sturkenboom, Professor of Islamic Art History at LMU Munich, is seeking to understand the early-modern history of Islamicate arts of the book from a perspective that has thus far not been considered: the border and background decoration of manuscripts. The manifold forms of paper decoration and their techniques have hitherto not been systematically analyzed by historians of Islamic Art, who instead have focused on manuscripts’ figurative illustrations. For a full comprehension of art and the exploration of global artistic contacts between different cultures, however, the decorative devices also play a role that should not be neglected.
In this project, Sturkenboom is pursuing an interdisciplinary approach, in which scholars from humanities and natural sciences collaborate to research artistic and technical aspects of decorated paper – primarily from collections in the Middle East and Asia – produced in early-modern China, Central Asia, Iran, India, and the Ottoman Empire. In this way, the researchers want to shed new light in particular on networks of trade, diplomacy, and artistic exchange in Asia and the Middle East that paved the way for greatly varied and technically advanced forms of augmented paper decoration.

Projektleitung:
Prof. Dr. Ilse Sturkenboom

Mitarbeiterinnen:
Hanieh Arjomand-Fard (IT)
Mandana Bender (Database, Website, Social Media)
Annette Ohlenhard (administration)
Theresa Zischkin

Weiterführende Links
https://www.globaldecopaper.gwi.uni-muenchen.de