Symposium: Manuscript Networks Across the Persian Cosmopolis

In The Courts of the Deccan Sultanates (2019), Emma Flatt shows how courtly ethics and etiquettes from the Balkans to the Bengal were “structured by a courtliness that had evolved and was broadly shared across the area that has become known as the ‘Persian Cosmopolis’.” Taking a cue from Flatt’s discussion of a shared courtly culture, the symposium invites three scholars of early modern art history to discuss manuscript networks across the Persian cosmopolis.

In particular the focus will be on three spheres of cultural production: the Mughal, the Safavid and the Ottoman. How do cultural, linguistic and visual ideas congeal around manuscript culture that is shared but also simultaneously rooted in specific regions?
The invited scholars are Yael Rice, Marianna Shreve Simpson, and Emine Fetvacı.

This event is sponsored by the Rare Book School Society of Fellows, Rare Book School M.C. Lang Fellowship, The Davis Center, Williams Libraries, the Lecture Committee, and the Department of Art.