Annual Conference 2011, Istanbul (Turkey)

12 years ago

»ORIENTALISM IN EAST AND WEST«

5 - 9 October 2011

Report

This conference focused on the historic and contemporary relations between East and West that have influenced the development of the decorative arts and design. In its broadest sense, Orientalism stands for an artistic approach towards influences from a culture alien to the designer. The theme, which has perhaps never been more current, concentrated from a historical perspective on decorative arts and design as a means of communication for cultures.

Programme

Day 1:   Wednesday, 5 October 2011

  Arrival at Ataturk International Airport Istanbul from different countries. Guests will make their own way to the hotels.

Arrival at the hotels and individual check-in.
Hotels: Martinenz and Prestige Hotel.
The distance between the hotels is 3 minutes by walk. They are located at 2 parallel streets.
 
  Registration for the conference at Hotel Martinenz.
15.00 First lecture:
Ilber Ortayli, Director of the Topkapi Museum, Istanbul:
Decorative Arts and Design in Turkey and Istanbul.
After the lecture Depart from the hotel Martinez for Sultanahmet area.
By walk - it takes approx 25-30 minutes by walk from the hotel to Sultanahm.
  Visit of the Hippodrome:
Hippodrome, Egyptian Obelisk, Serpentine Column, Colossus or the column of Constantine Porphyrgenitus, the German Fountain or Fountain of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Evening Dinner at Martinenz hotel (for the guests of both hotels).

Day 2:   Thursday, 6 October 2011

  Open buffet breakfast at the hotel restaurants.
  Depart from the hotel for Beyoglu (Pera) area with an English speaking historian either by vehicles .
By vehicles it takes approx 30-35 mins to Pera Museum.
  Whole day at Pera Museum.
Lectures, Marketplace, General Assemby, Report of the Board, visits of the museum, contact with the curators.
  Pera Museum
The Pera Museum, which opened its doors in early June 2005, is the first step of a comprehensive cultural endeavor that the Suna and Inan Kiraç Foundation has launched at this distinguished venue in the city for the purpose of providing cultural service on a variety of levels. An historical structure which was originally constructed in 1893 by the architect Achille Manoussos in Tepebaşi (Istanbul's most prestigious district in those days) and which was, until rather recently, known as the Bristol Hotel, was completely renovated to serve as a museum and cultural center for the project. Transformed into a fully-equipped modern museum, this venerable building is now serving the people of Istanbul once again.
Evening Visit of the Atelier of Mr. Atil Kutoglu, fashion designer and some other designers workshops.
  Dinner (will be paid by guests).

Day 2:   Friday, 7 October 2011

  Open buffet breakfast at the hotel restaurants.
  Depart from the hotel for Sultanahmet area by two DLX-busses.
  Visit of Topkapi Palace Museum.
Visit of the Museum, storage, contact with curators, discussion with Director Ilber Ortayli, lunch at the museum.
 
  Topkapi Palace
The Topkapi Palace was both the symbolic and the actual center of the Ottoman Empire for nearly 4 centuries. It is a beautiful setting in which to wander and contemplate the majesty of the Ottoman sultanate. In accordance with Islamic tradition, the palace consists in a collection of buildings arranged around a series of courtyards. Topkapi was built between 1459 and 1465 as the seat of government of the newly installed Ottoman regime.
Afternoon Underground Cistern, Saint Sophia Museum, Mosaic Museum, Cinili Kosk (Museum of Turkish Faience), The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art
Evening Dinner at Evren Restaurant (approx. 10 minutes by road from both hotels):
Seafood & Raki, fixed menu & limited local drinks.

Day 4:   Saturday, 8 October 2011

  Breakfast at the hotel restaurants.
09:15 Depart the hotel by DLX coach and mini bus and an English speaking historian, drive to Byuykdere.
10:00 - 11:00 Sadberk Hanim Museum.
  Drive by bus.
11:30 - 12:30 Austrian Consulate.
12:45 Embark the boat at Yenikoy pier for 1 hour Bosphorus Tour.
12:45 - 14:00 Cruise on the Bosphorus by private boat.
  After disembarkation at Kabatas pier, drive by bus.
14:15 - 15:30 A guided tour of the Istanbul Modern Museum by the museum's own art guides.

15:45 Short drive to Karakoy, where guests will take the nostalgic (the worlds 3rd oldest) "one stop" underground Metro. It's a 2 minutes journey on the world's shortest underground metro route up hill from Karakoy to Beyoglu, connecting two of Istanbul's busiest neighbourhoods. Guests will then be in the local and very vibrant and bussling city centre area of Beyoglu. The area is full of local character and not touristical.
 
16:00 - 17:00 Mevlevi Museum (old name: Divan Literature Museum).
 
17:00 - 17:30 Istikal Street.
 
17:30 - 19:00 Pera Museum, then visit of one of the private Art Galleries.
 
  Return to the hotels.
 
Evening Farewell Dinner and Night Show at Galata Tower Meyhanesi.
Fixed menu, night floor show and limited local drinks.
 
  Return to the hotels.
 

Day 5:   Sunday, 9 October 2011

  Breakfast at the hotel restaurants.
 
Around early afternoon Transfer to the airport by coach with luggage with English speaking transfer assistant.
 

Lectures

1
Rainald Franz, MAK, Vienna:
European Mauresque ornament as sign of the cultural transfer between Islam and Christian Europe (>> Download the complete lecture)
"Moriskhe", "Rabisch" or "rabescho", "all damaschina", "agemina" are terms we find in contemporary sources to describe flat surface ornaments of the sixteenth century that seem to borrow from Arabic models. Strictly 18:37 12.10.2011 geometric Arabic decoration had already taken full shape in the Orient by the twelfth century. It was called the "knotted style" (Persian girih), thus describing both workmanship and ornament. The adoption of motifs from the Far East after the conquest of the Arabian world by the Mongols caused the ornament to be enriched in the thirteenth century with vine scroll motifs, though they were strictly subjected to the geometric style. The Mauresque first became popular in the Renaissance only in this "balance of geometric and objective forms". The paper discusses the dissemination of the ornamental style, which followed the great trade routes leading to Europe from the Asian and Arabian regions, making it a popular ornament in central Europe in the 16th and early 17th century.

2
Martina Pall, Director, Hanns Schell Collection:
Lacquer painting on European coffers
Among the first techniques to enter into Europe via Venice from Syrian craftsmen was damascening. It is possible that this technique was also the inspiration for lacquering. The glittering effect of radiant metals such as gold and silver on a dark background appears to make the same impression as the application of gold on dark lacquer. Not only the technique itself, but also the patterns and ornamentations were copied. The lacquer imitators of Venice in the guild of the depentori were the first to imitate oriental lacquer in Europe.
The main focus of the lecture is a rock-crystal-casket (around 1600) in the Schell-Collection with wooden body and lacquer painting. The interior is completely covered with lacquered painting (gold and black) since the inside also had to be decorated due to the transparency of the rock-crystal-cabouchons on the walls.
On the basis of the list of provenance it can be positively identified. Once in the hand of William Beckford it comes to a Scottish millionaire. Furthermore, an inventory note from the Collection Duke of Westminster is attached to the bottom. Auctioned in 1975, Sotheby's Monaco by Baron de Rédé and the family of Guy de Rothschild it was auctioned again in 1995 and bought for the Schell-Collection.
In the 16th century Venice was the Europe's gateway to the Orient. Venetian craftsmen were thereby introduced to foreign techniques. The lecture tries to point out the spreading of the lacquer painting on boxes in Europe, starting around 1600 which lasts until today.

3
Hans Ottomeyer, DHM, Berlin:
The Turkish style in European works of art in the 18th century
In the aftermath of official diplomatic relations 1742 between the Kingdom of France and the Osman Empire there was a Turkish fashion in interior design and decorative arts until 1780. The castles of Versailles and Bellevue were furnished with paintings, gilt bronzes, clocks and candelabras with so called Turkish motifs in allusion of the heightened interest into the East. Bells, Hibiscus flowers, strings of graded pearls, dromedars, ostriches, caparisons, figures of odaliskes and Sultanas were frequently quoted. The treatment of forms and motifs is an aftermath of the Chinese style. Turkish tents and kiosks in the form of wooden pavillions expanded the Turkish influence into the English landscape gardens. Some motifs lasted far into the 19th century, for example curtain motifs, kiosks and Turkish smoking cabinets became a realm of escape and positive fantasy. Art production was consequently oriented towards the highest social level, but became very popular later in 1835 in international lifestyle and mentality.

4
Alexandra Troschinskaya, Chief Curator, The Museum of Decorative, Applied and Industrial Art of S. G. Strganov Moscow State Academy of Industrial Design (Stroganov MSAID Museum):
On the Less Known Porcelain in the Turkish taste Presented to Sultan Selim III by Tsarina Catherine II (1793-1794)
The article tells about a little-known "porcelain" gift of Catharine II to Sultan Selim III during the solemn legation to Constantinople headed by M. I. Golenischev-Kutuzov (1793-1794). One of the most interesting aspects of porcelain existence in the 18th century is its role in the "diplomacy of gifts" of the day. Sending "porcelain gifts" from Russia to the Middle East has never been inspected by researchers. The article is based on the Russian Empire Foreign Policy Archive (REFPA) materials. I also thanks the workers of the Topkapi Museum kindly responded to my request to search the Russian porcelain of the 18th century in the palace funds. I thank for assistance and cooperation the President of the Topkapi Palace-museum in Istanbul, Dr. Prof. Ilber Ortayli, and the European Porcelain and Silver Collection Curator Mr. Ömür Tufan.
Unfortunately, the Russian "diplomatic porcelain" of the 18th century has not been located in the Turkish collections yet, despite of the evidences found in the Russian national archives. However, even these restrained descriptions are very important for modern researchers since they show another side of the multi-layered Russian porcelain art. Mentioning the special "Turkish taste" ornaments triggered the exciting searches (remaining burning today, too) for these unusual things outside Russia. Probably, in the future, location of these items could add new zest to the Russian Imperial porcelain history.

5
Rachel King, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich:
From Munich to Mersin: German Porcelain Coffee Cups in the 18th and 19th centuries
While the Germans took their taste for coffee from the Turks, merchants in the Ottoman Empire, on the other hand, were wont to buy coffee cups from producers located in Bavaria and Thuringia. This paper will explore the phenomenon of the so-called Türkenbecher, a form which was first produced in Vienna and Dresden but which would soon be produced in thousands across southern Germany in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Indeed, Türkenbecher were the bread and butter of many contemporary porcelain manufactories who sustained their more ambitious, less lucrative production by making these modest little coffee cups and putting them out to painters working in their own homes for their decoration. These were then delivered to Turkish, Armenian and Greek merchants operating in German cities who arranged for them to be taken to and sold throughout the Near East.
Focusing specifically on a series of cups from the collection of the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, I will demonstrate that the history of these seemingly simple objects is far from straightforward. With distance as a major obstacle, I will explore how German porcelain producers discovered which designs would sell in Turkey and what they did when they didn't? Particularly interesting is the plethora of manufacturers' marks these 'Koppchen' display? Frequently mentioned by scholarship, but never systematically investigated, this paper will present the German side of the 'Türkenkoppchen' story.

6
Anne-Claire Schumacher, Conservatrice, Musée Ariana, musée suisse de la céramique et du verre, Genève:
Influences réciproques de l'Orient et l'Occident dans les collections du Musée Ariana
Avec plus de 22'000 piéces, les collections encyclopédiques du Musée Ariana recouvrent une large période s'échelonnant du Moyen Age à la période contemporaine en Europe, au Moyen Orient et en Extrême-Orient. Le large spectre des collections permet de retracer les grandes lignes de la passionnante histoire de la céramique et de faire des liens entre les productions.
L'arrivée de la mystérieuse porcelaine chinoise dans les ports européens au tournant du XVIe siècle constitue incontestablement un événement majeur dans l'histoire des productions européennes. Incapables jusqu'au début du XVIIIe siècle de percer le secret de la fabrication de la porcelaine, les potiers européens vont faire face à la redoutable concurrence des productions orientales en rivalisant d'ingéniosité pour rendre leurs produits encore plus attractifs. Dans un premier temps, ils imitent au plus près les formes et décors des porcelaines, puis les modèles sont peu à peu interprétés, assimilés et adaptés au contexte européen.
Le Musée Ariana consacre une salle d'exposition permanente à cette passionnante histoire des liens Orient-Occident en confrontant modèles, copies et variantes, qui nous renseignent sur la fascination de l'Orient et la mode de la chinoiserie.
Reciprocal influences between East and West in the Musée Ariana's collections
With more than 22'000 ceramic items, the encyclopedic collections of Musée Ariana cover an extensive period, from medieval times to the present day, in Europe, Middle- and Far-East. The large specter of the collections allows to trace the outlines of the fascinating history of ceramic and to make connections between the different productions.
The arrival of the mysterious porcelain ware from China in European ports at he turn of the 16th century constitute a major event in the story of European productions. Unable to discover the secret of manufacturing chinaware until the beginning of 18th century, the European potters have to cope with the formidable competition of oriental productions, by competing ingenuity to make their productions more attractive. Initially, they closely imitate the porcelain shapes and decoration; then, the models were gradually interpreted, assimilated and adapted to the European context.
The Musée Ariana devote a permanent exhibition room to the fascinating history of the connections between East and West, confronting models, copies and variants, which tell us more about the fascination for the Orient and the fashion for Chinoiserie.

7
Nela Tarbuk, Museum of Art and Crafts, Zagreb:
Artifacts with Islamic signifiers in the territory of Croatia under the Ottoman rule - Influence and entanglement with the native artistic forms (>> Download the complete lecture)
The Ottoman civilization structure was assimilated through the Ottoman rule that lasted for nearly two centuries (15 - 17 c.) in the territory of Croatia. It left behind an interesting corpus of cultural heritage. Among other things, we will discuss a number of its artifacts which serve as an example of various disciplines of artistic production.
Focus will be set on artifacts made in the period of the Ottoman rule, those being artworks from the Islamic cultural circle. Also, the influence of the aforementioned circle will be explained through its influence on the native art, as well as through its merging with it.
We will also discuss the later art production, which bears the Islamic motifs that indicate the communication and entanglement of the Western and Eastern culture.

8
Maja Lozar Štamcar, Senior Curator, The National Museum of Slovenia:
The Allure of China: Eighteenth Century Interior Decoration and Lacca Povera Furniture in Slovenia
As part of the Habsburg Empire, Slovenia in the eighteenth century had its share of Far Eastern commodities. Thanks to the Jesuit friars in Ljubljana and Gorica there was also first-hand knowledge of China. This vast empire was viewed by Westerners as another advanced civilization producing such luxuries as spices and tea, silk, lacquerware and porcelain. Local nobility and townsfolk were keen to furnish their homes with genuine and European-made chinoiserie. Still surviving from Carniolan and Styrian castles are several painted rococo wall-coverings in the taste, as are a group of lacca povera furniture. The Italian term denotes varnished case furniture, decorated with cut-out prints in imitation of glossy painted lacquer and porcelain and mostly originating in Venice. Creating lighthearted compositions with subtle sexual and parodic undertones became quite a pastime. Prints of extremely varied subject-matter, such as romanticized scenes of leasured Chinese life in the first, and European gallant rococo, hunting and everyday scenes in the second half of the century, along with domestic and exotic flora and fauna, fables, ornaments etc., were produced by French, German and Italian publishers, most noted among them Martin Engelbrecht in Augsburg and the Remondini family in Bassano del Grappa. These hand-coloured quality coppercuts and engravings pasted on furniture feature not only as pure decorations reflecting eternal passions and longings, but are also an astonishingly multilayered document of the complex age of Enlightenment.

9
Beata Biedrońska-Słota, Head Curator of Textile Department, National Museum in Krakow:
East in Polish Art from 16th to 18th centuries
The crossing of the cultural border between East and West was carried out in Poland during times of war and peace alike. Merchant caravans, emissary visits and exotic travels caused the constant increase of interest in Islamic countries. Regardless of such contacts, there existed a community of Polish-Lithuanian Tatars on Polish territory, a population professing Islam, which contributed to the conveyance of information about Islamic culture. Christian Armenians were the distributors of such knowledge in a congruent way.
Islamic culture and objects of Islamic art were present in Poland through the centuries. Islamic art has undoubtedly enriched Polish culture. Following on from Edward Said's publications, we can analyse the objects of Islamic art preserved in Poland in the first and second meaning of Said's proposal of understanding Orientalism.

10
Sigrid Sangl, Curator of the Department "Möbel und Raumkunst", Bayerisches Nationalmuseum Munich:
Boulle Marquetry and so-called Polonaise Carpets: A Case of West-East Decorative Reception around 1700 (>> Download the complete lecture)
From the Renaissance onwards sumptuous oriental carpets were used to drape simple wooden table frames to lend them an especial magnificence. Then, at the end of the 17th century, aided by the development of marquetry technique which used exotic tortoiseshell and gold- or silver-colored metals and which reached its zenith under André Charles Boulle, a new kind of continuous decoration of tabletops was born in France. The aesthetic standard of entirely covering the surfaces of these tabletops with an intricate foliate decoration is particularly similar to the decoration of so-called Polonaise carpets made to be exported to the courts of Europe by Armenian families from the area around Isfahan in the 17th century. These carpets were often produced in pairs and stitched using gold and silver threads thus giving the same impression of princely opulence as ornamented tabletops made in the Boulle technique. Using the tabletop decoration of courtly furniture from around 1700 this paper will illuminate the design-historical connections between these two luxury products.


11
Elisabeth Schmuttermeier, MAK, Vienna:
Imperial gifts to the Turkish Sultan (>> Download the complete lecture)
Munera honorica or honorific gifts to the Turkish sultan - euphemistically designated "Verehrungen" (gifts of honour) by the Habsburgs - were made by the Holy Roman Empire, the Kings of Poland, the Princes of Transylvania, the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, the Doges of Venice and the Persian potentates. The gifts were evaluated according to the rank of the recipient; they were addressed not only to the sultan, but also to higher dignitaries such as the grand vizier, who functioned as "foreign minister", the mufti as the highest representative of religion, also to viziers and major officials, for instance the Porte interpreters, likewise influential eunuchs. Hence it became necessary since the mid-sixteenth century to assign a permanent representative of the emperor to the High Porte. He handed over the annual tribute payments, which the imperial emissaries brought from Vienna to Constantinople/Istanbul.
Favoured presents from and within Europe included a contractually fixed amount of cash in coin, also silver articles, clocks, mirrors, weapons, armour, textiles, paintings, horses and dogs. Though the demands were occasionally thought to be shaming, the "donor" could however use his highly valuable gifts to demonstrate to the recipient the technical achievements of his compatriot craftsmen and artisans, and his exclusive standard of living. Some cities of the German Empire such as Nuremberg and Augsburg had specialised in commissions for precious and non-precious metals. Only few pieces, dedicated as gifts survived, the rest has been melted down. But 'the few ones' will give an impression how extraordinary these gifts have been.

12
Sylvia Mattl-Wurm, Director Wienbibliothek im Rathaus, Vienna:
The Turcica-Collection of the City Library of Vienna
The Vienna City Library, founded in 1856, preserves a huge collection of prints, including a series of rare books and prints of the first and second siege of Vienna (1529 and 1683). Those materials represent a particular source for the history of these global events, still part of the collectiv memory in Turkey as well as in Austria.
The unique collection of so called "Türkendrucke" - "turkish prints", a noun to signify this particular historical encounters - on major parts is based on the former private collection of Walter Sturminger(1899-1973), a lawyer and civil servant, who worked for the ministry of Education. Well known as a prominent collector of "Viennensia" he published in 1955 his survey of textual and visual productions concerning the sieges under the title "Bibliographie und Ikonographie der Türkenbelagerungen Wiens 1529 und 1683" (Bibliography and Iconography of the turkish sieges of Viennes 1529 and 1683). More or less this catalogue lists Sturmingers own collection dedicated by him to the Vienna City Library in the 1960ies. This survey still serves as the most important work of bibliography upon these times within austrian research. About 1250 books and prints after Sturmingers death became part of the Vienna City Library.
The presentation will offer an overview on books and prints of the early 16th century till the end of the 17th century. This includes offical reports on the two sieges, rare materials like protocols of interrogations of turkish/osmane captivates, austrian propaganda prints, christian pamphlets, multilingual eye witnesses-reports about the particular situation of Vienna in 1683, even pieces of invectives, songs and lyrics.
In extension to the textual materials the presentation includes icons of the so called "Türkenbeute" ("turkish booty") which is part of the collections of the WIEN MUSEUM, the former Historical Museum of the City of Vienna: osmanic weapons and standards, early maps of the City of Vienna and many other precious objects of the time. For decades these objects have been presented as war-time-trophies only, nowerdays they become major objects for intercultural dialogue in museums.

13
Widar Halen, Nationalmuseum, Oslo:
Owen Jones and the Islamic inspiration
 

14
Catherine L. Futter, Curator of Decorative Arts, The Helen Jane and R. Hugh "Pat" Uhlmann. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art:
Displaying the World: Decorative Arts at the World's Fairs 1851-1939
This paper will focus on decorative arts exhibiting cross-cultural influences displayed at the world's fairs between The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in London in 1851 and the New York World's Fair in 1939.
Referred to during this period by a variety of terms (including universal exhibition and international exhibition), world's fairs were the most important vehicles for debuting advancements in modern living. Some were universal in scope, displaying decorative arts alongside paintings, sculpture, industrial design and agricultural products; others concentrated on exhibiting decorative arts alone. Both types of expositions functioned as showcases and marketplaces for design - on a global, national and individual level. Above all, they democratized design unlike any previous or concurrent forum.
Decorative arts, particularly objects crafted in ceramic, metal, glass, and wood, were the physical manifestation of the progressive, economic, and technological ideals embodied in the fairs. These singular objects (usually monumental in scale or visually outstanding) represented the pinnacle of scientific and artistic achievements of their time and demonstrated how innovative design could positively affect modern living.
These fairs demonstrated a number of salient themes in the decorative arts, including the presentation of new technologies and materials and the demonstration of nationalistic inspiration and folkloric traditions. Probably the most significant contribution of the fairs was in the display and interaction of so-called exotic cultures. These elaborate displays led to cross-cultural influences and cross-fertilization. Partially from a natural curiosity of unknown cultures and partially from increasing global trade and exchange, these exhibitions resulted in not only Western designers and manufacturers appropriating materials, techniques, forms and motifs from the Islamic world, India, Asia and Africa, but also the incorporation of Western motifs into non-Western works displayed at the fairs.

15
Wolfgang Schepers, Museum August Kestner, Hanover:
Orientalism and Transculturality
The interest in foreign cultures is a well known phenomenon in cultural history. I think of the Chinese fashion in the 18th century European handicraft, of Non-European architecture in landscape gardening or the Egyptomany caused by Napoleons Egyptian campaign around 1800.
There have been a certain number of art exhibitions dedicated to orientalism: Starting in 1984 in London followed by "Europe and the Orient 900-1900" (1989 Berlin) and in our days "Orientalism in Europe. From Delacroix to Kandinsky" (Brussels, Munich, Marseille 2010/2011) and at least from another point of view "The strange occident? Orient meets Occident from 1800 to today" (Karlsruhe, Badisches Landesmuseum 2010/2011).
In the political world we discuss presently the problems of migration, multiculture or parallel societies. I would like to introduce into the ongoing discussion about cultural influences from east to west and vice versa the term "Transculturality". This concept was first published by the German philosopher Wolfgang Welsch in 1991. He proposed to abandon Johann Gottfried Herders cultural concept (1784) which means that different cultures could be compared with autonomous balls not being able to penetrate or influence each other. In contradiction to that concept "Transculturality" means that different cultures could go through others and create a new one.
We have to discuss whether this idea can be useful for the understanding of modern tendencies in applied art and design.

16
Silvia Barisione, Wolfsoniana, Genoa:
Orientalism in 19th and early 20th Century Italian Architecture and Decorative Arts.
During the 19th century essays and manuals in French and English were published about art and architecture in the times of the pharaohs. With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 came the explosive revival of Egyptology in the Western world. The great international exhibitions presented the recurring themes of Cairo Street scenes and of Arabian and Turkish villages. These further promoted the fashion of fabulous mysterious orientalised environments. The new interpretation of Islamic architectural and decorative arts spread above all in those places dedicated to leisure time, for instance, grand hotels, seaside resorts, thermal baths, summer arenas. These exoticisms reflected the desire to escape from the everyday.
In Europe the rediscovery of Islamic arts was facilitated by the study of Spanish Moorish architecture. The survey of the courtyards of the Alhambra in Granada, published by Owen Jones in his Grammar of Ornament in 1856, was a point of reference for the works written by Italian architects such as Camillo Boito and Alfredo Melani. Direct quotations from the Alhambra model can be seen in the early examples of Islamic-inspired architecture and interiors in Italy in the second half of the 19th century with many residences of the rising upper-classes reflecting the Moorish style in their furnishings, usually in a "Turkish" room.
The cabinet-maker from Pavia, Giuseppe Parvis, active in Cairo, contributed to the spread of an "Italian Moorish style"; two orientalist painters Fabio e Alberto Fabbi realized around 1890 a bed-room in the Neo-Egyptian style for the Palazzo Gonzaga near Mantua (now displayed at the Wolfsoniana in Genoa); also the Milanese Carlo Bugatti was inspired from eastern cultures, creating a range of "Arab-influenced" furniture in a style simply known as "Bugatti".
As far as concerns Italian ceramics, the influence of Persian and Hispano-Moresque can be seen in the work of the Florentine Ulisse Cantagalli and those of the painter and potter Galileo Chini. Influenced by his long stay in Bangkok from 1911 to 1914, Chini combined exotic, Eastern influences with elements derived from deco, reaching his apex in the ceramic decorations of the Berzieri Thermal Baths at Salsomaggiore.

17
Olga Loginova, Head of the memorial and applied art department The GCTM of A. A. Bahrushin (The State Central Theater Museum of A. A. Bahrushin):
Elena A. Jansen-Maniser works as illustrations of Orientalism in Theater
For many European cultures the basical notion about East came not only from the Arab world, but from Russia too. The genius Russian actors, composers, and theatrical designers created they own vision of the exotic East, a vision of a great power, that influenced the development of the pseudo-oriental decorative arts and design.
The art of the theater must be one of the most notable and successful exporter of the orientalism , because it is maid up of different kinds of art in very strong interrelations. Lots of visual arts, such as dramatic, opera and ballet performances are not eternal in the human memory, they could be easily forgotten without the evidences of applied art - the striking illustrations of the past theatrical achievements.
The GCTM of A. A. Bahrushin (The State Central Theater Museum of A. A. Bahrushin) holds the great collection of the unique theatrical applied art pieces. The significant collection part is the sculpture in oriental style of the outstanding Russian twentieth century's sculptor Elena A. Jansen-Maniser.
The applied art and memorial things department have the Jansen-Maniser sculpture collection dedicated to the ballet "Bahchisaraisky fontan" (The fountain of Bahchisaray). The ballet is inspired by the "eastern" Pushkin's poem with the same name, full of the nineteenth century Romanticism and strong interest to Russian "East" - the Caucasus. The most interesting sculptures are "Kaminskaya as Zarema" (1937), "Mihailov as Girey" (1937)... All of sculptures are highly decorative and plastic. The sculptor succeed in producing of touch of Orientalism in costumes, postures and motions. The Jansen-Maniser works could be regarded as very interesting illustrations of oriental theatrical art.

18
Tatiana Astrahantseva, Research Officer, Research Institute of Theory and History of Fine Art:
Orientalism in Soviet Ceramic Scuplture of 1920-1930: Russia between East and West
The eastern theme was the most significant element of Soviet Ceramic Sculpture of the Art Deco era. Russian artists, turning to the Eastern theme along with their European and American colleagues, not only adopted the new themes but also shared with Europe a wide variety of symbolic analogs and discoveries. Each of the countries, in fact, had its own image of the East. Western artists saw the East as "overseas", "remote and exotic". The Russian approach focused on politicized themes, reflecting the process of national self-determination as predicted by Lenin who had referred to it as the parade of sovereignty. In the first half of the 20th century the archeological discoveries, new awareness of cultures of the Far East and Ancient Egypt, and creation of new ceramic materials, made porcelain into a material of only secondary significance. In Russia, to the contrary, it now was not only the main material of the trade but a very fashionable material at that.
The Russian treatment of the Eastern theme was that of truthfulness in every detail of life. Most plots came from Central Asia and Persia, not Japan, although some historical stylistic adaptations did happen. For instance, A. Schekatikhina-Pototskaya used ancient Egyptian art motifs in her work, and N. Danko borrowed Japanese and Chinese imagery for her sculptures. Eastern motifs can also be seen in the shape of vases made at LFZ. Persian and Turkish motives, especially Eastern miniatures, were valued by artists and sculptors (E. Danko, T. Davtyan, E. Tripolskaya, O. Manuilova and others).

19
Annamarie Sandecki, Archivist, Tiffany & Co., Parsippany, NJ:
Tiffany & Co.'s Saracenic Style.
Beginning in the 1870s Edward C. Moore, Chief Designer at Tiffany & Co., created jewelry and silver hollowware in a style described in company records variously as "Saracenic", "Burmese", or "Indian". The style was an amalgam of exotic "Oriental" decorative motifs, shapes, materials and techniques found in Hindu-Mughal and Persian decorative arts. Moore's inspiration was sparked by the large and varied collection of objects and scholarly reference books he amassed to inspire Tiffany designers. This paper traces the genesis of Moore's fascination with Islamic motifs; discusses examples of items executed by Tiffany craftsmen; and explains how Tiffany convinced American customers to purchase these sumptuously decorated coffee pots, dresser sets, vases, hair combs and perfume flasks.

Marketplace:
Rosita Nenno, DLM German Leathermuseum Offenbach:
Guilded Shields from Northern Italy and/or Austria and the influence from oriental decoration
The collections of the German Leathermuseum include two guilded shields from around 1600. One is supposed to be the work of an oriental craftsman in Venice, the other being commissioned by the "Fürstbischof" of Salzburg, Wolf Dieter von Raitenau (1587-1611/12) or Markus Sittikus von Hohenems (1612-18) and made by local artists. I would like to show the different shields with similar examples from the Salzburg Museum, the Liechtenstein collection etc., all together supposed to be from the same commission, and to analyse the decoration from the angle of oriental influences. I hope to get - in the context of our conference - additional help from our colleagues. In fact, my paper intends first to ask questions, as I have, for the time being, no results to present. I hope to get clearer ideas till October by getting photos of the different shields, sold to collections in Chicago, Philadelphia, the Metropolitan Museum or the Dresden Rüstkammer.

Participants

Ellenor ALCORN
Associate Curator European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, ICDAD Board Member

Tatiana ASTRAKHANTSEVA
Research Officer, Research Institute of Theory and History of Fine Art

Silvia BARISIONE
Curator, The Wolfsonian-FIU, Miami Beach, ICDAD Board Member

Ilsebill BARTA
Director, Bundesmobiliensammlung, Vienna

Monica BILFINGER
Bundesamt für Bauten und Logistik BBL, Bern

Henriette BON

Eva Helena CASSEL-PIHL

Rainald FRANZ
Head Glass and Ceramics Collection, MAK, Vienna, Austria, Chair ICDAD

Catherine FUTTER
Curator of Decorative Arts, The Helen Jane and R. Hugh "Pat" Uhlmann. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City

Dr. Nina GANTSEVA

Cathy JACOB
Head of Exhibitions, Boijmans Museum, Rotterdam

Marianne JOBST-RIEDER
Former Director Broadsheets, Posters and Exlibris Collection, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna

Gregory KENNY
Senior Policy Officer, Arts New South Wales (NSW), Communities NSW, Sidney

Rachel KING
Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich

Helena KOENIGSMARKOVÁ
Director UPM, Praha, Czech Republic, ICDAD Board Member

Petra KRUTISCH
Curator, Furniture Collection, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg, ICDAD Board Member

Martina LEHMANNOVA
Curator, Furniture Department, Moravian Gallery, Brno

Olga LOGINOVA
Head of the memorial and applied art department The GCTM of A. A. Bahrushin (The State Central Theater Museum of A. A. Bahrushin)

Maja LOZAR STAMCAR
Senior Curator, The National Museum of Slovenia, Ljubiljana

Meghan MAGEE
Senior Consulting Registrar for Training at Qatar Museums Authority, National Museum of Qatar

Sylvia MATTL-WURM
Director, Wienbibliothek im Rathaus, Vienna

Rosita NENNO
Vice-Director, DLM Deutsches Ledermuseum Offenbach

Hans OTTOMEYER
Former Director, DHM, Berlin

Martina PALL
Director, Hanns Schell Collection, Graz

Rosalind PEPALL
Senior Curator of Decorative Arts (Early and Modern), The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

Maria PERERS
Curator, Nordiska Museet, Stockholm

Annemarie SANDECKI
Archivist, Tiffany & Co.

Sigrid SANGL
Curator, Department "Möbel und Raumkunst", Bayerisches Nationalmuseum Munich

Hanns SCHELL
Owner Hanns Schell Collection, Graz

Wolfgang SCHEPERS
Director, Museum August Kestner, Hanover, ICDAD Board Member

Elisabeth SCHMUTTERMEIER
Curator, Metal and Wiener Werkstätte Archive, MAK, Vienna

Anne Claire SCHUMACHER
Conservatrice, Musée Ariana, musée suisse de la céramique et du verre, Genève

Irina SHALUGINA
Deputy Director, All-Russian Decorative Art Museum, Moscow

Mienke SIMON THOMAS
Curator, Boijmans Museum, Rotterdam

Marketta TAMMINEN
Former Director Porvoo Museum, Finnland

Nela TARBUK
Curator, Museum of Art and Crafts, Zagreb

Elena TITOVA
Deputy Director, All-Russian Decorative Art Museum, Moscow

Alexandra TROSHINSKAYA
Chief Curator, The Museum of Decorative, Applied and Industrial Art of S. G., Stroganov Moscow State Academy of Industrial Design (Stroganov MSAID Museum)

Jeanne WATSON
Oregon-California Trails Association

William WATSON
Oregon-California Trails Association

Christian WITT-DOERRING
Curator, Neue Galerie, New York

Heidrun ZINNKANN
Curator, Museum für Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt