Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Lecture: Indo-Islamic Papermaking Heritage by Alexandra Soteriou, July 13, 2015

You are invited to a lecture 
Indo-Islamic Papermaking Heritage by Alexandra Soteriou
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall, Ruth and Harold D. Uris Center for Education
July 13, 2015 3:30-5:00 PM 

To coincide with the Museum’s exhibition, Sultans of Deccan India, 1500-1700: Opulence and Fantasy, you are invited to a lecture by paper historian, Alexandra Soteriou. In her lecture, Ms. Soteriou charts the migration of Muslim papermakers in tandem with dynastic movements and shares a seldom-seen view of hand papermaking throughout the Sub-continent, the Himalayas and Central Asia.
Ms. Soteriou’s presentation includes a review of proto-papers from Pakistan’s high mountain Silk Route villages, archaeological ruins that tie traditional ways of making paper to their Chinese roots, pulping tools such as an Uzbek wooden stamper, Himalayan hand pounders and Indian fermenting pits, raw materials that form the character of paper, papermaking tools including elegant reed moulds and stone and ivory polishers and decorative or colored papers including marbled works. Insight into how method impacts the look and quality of paper will be discussed. Additionally artisan’s secrets about translucent animal membrane interleaving sheets, papers made strong by double-dip do pani kagaz, insect repellant coatings, string-and-powder tools used to keep calligraphy on line and image-copying methods, will be described.

Alexandra Soteriou spent several decades working with hand papermakers in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Uzbekistan and Thailand. Her award-winning book, Gift of Conquerors, Hand Papermaking in India is a classic scholarly resource on the subject.

This lecture is sponsored by the Museum’s Sherman Fairchild Center for Book Conservation and the Sherman Fairchild Center for Paper Conservation. There is no charge to attend this program. To reserve your place in this event and for questions, contact Mindell Dubansky (mindell.dubansky@metmuseum.org). Please provide your full name and affiliation.

On July 13, please use the Uris Center entrance on Fifth Avenue and 81st Street. Upon arrival you will be directed to the Sacerdote Lecture Hall

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