Collecting East & West
Florence, 25-29 July 2009
This conference looks at imported objects, whether artworks, antiquities,
plants, or books, in collections in Europe and elsewhere. It addresses the
mechanisms of import and distribution of the objects and the contribution
collections of such pieces made towards improving the knowledge about
foreign countries and people.
Collections usually concentrate on what is rare and hard to come by. This
rarity may refer to the age or the material of the collected objects but
frequently is a condition resulting from the object?s exotic origins. As
the differences between remote countries were not understood, it was
natural to attribute romantic stories and magical powers to objects,
enhancing their importance and the prestige of the collector at the same
time. Merchants, explorers, warriors, and pirates travelled widely and we
can look back at a long history of imported treasures in the collections
of European princes.
The Medici, for example, started collecting porcelain in the fifteenth
century. Objects from the New World found their way into European
collections from the early sixteenth century onwards. Weapons from the
Near East formed an important part of any princely Armoury north and south
of the Alps. Perhaps less well known is that in China collections of
European art and armour were amassed by the Emperors of the seventeenth
and eighteenth century.
Programme
Thursday, 25 June, 7pm
Aperitivo at St Mark's English church in Via Maggio 16
Friday, 26 June,
10.00 Registration at The British Institute of Florence, Lungarno
Guicciardini 9
10.30 Welcome and Introduction
11.00 East meets West: Antiquity and Antiquities
Allison Karmel Thomason: Occidentalism in Ancient Assyria (title tbc)
William Stenhouse: Greek Antiquities between East and West in the
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century
Patrick Michel: Le comte de Choiseul-Gouffier ou la quete de l?antique
12.30 lunch break
2.00 The West: New Worlds of Knowledge
Adriana Turpin Exotica and its role in the display of the Tribuna
Angela Catalina Ghionea: Products of American Arid and Semi-arid Lands in
the Italian Renaissance: Trading Knowledge, Herbs, Food, and Drugs
Silvia Davoli: East and West in the Cernuschi Museum and the influences of
Giambattista Vico
3.00 Tea
4.00 The East in the West: Oriental Collections in France
Corinne Thepaut-Cabasset: The Exotic at the Court of Louis XIV (title tbc)
Constance Bienaime: From Curiosity to Knowledge: Bertin's Chinese Collection
5.00 Discussion
Friday 27 June
9.00 at Florence University of the Arts
Coffee
9.30 The East in the North: Oriental Collections in the Netherlands and
Sweden
Lisa Skogh: Exotica in the Collection of Hedwig Eleonore of
Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp (1626-1715) and the Influence of Adam Olearius
(1603-1671)
Joy Kearney: Influences of Asia on Dutch Culture and Society in the 17th
Century
11.00 The East in English Collections
Helen Hughes: Displaying the Oriental in Jacobean England, c. 1616
Andrew Moore: The Paston Treasure
12.30 lunch break
2.30 19th Century Collections
Michelle Ying-Ling Huang: Early Collections of Chinese Painting at the
British Museum
Francesco Civita: Japanese Armour in the Stibbert Collection (title tbc)
Robert Elgood: Edward VII and the collecting of Islamic weapons in the late
19th century
5.00 discussion
8.00 at Ganzo, Via de?Macci 85 R (red)
Conference Dinner
Sunday, 28 June
9.00am
Visit to the Bargello
3.00pm
Visit to the Stibbert Collection
Monday, 29 June
10.00am
Visit to Villa I Tatti
3.00pm
Visit to the exhibition Galileo. Images of the Universe from Antiquity to
the Telescope at Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi
For a booking form, please contact:
Collecting & Display
Adriana Turpin
39 Talbot Rd
London W2 5JH
[log in to unmask]
www.collectinganddisplay.com
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