For a long period, manuscripts were the only place in the Islamicate world where you could find painting. 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.
Principal Investigator:
Ilse Sturkenboom studied “Art History” and “Art History and Archaeology” at the University of Groningen. After that, she did a course in Iranian Studies at the University of Bamberg, where she also competed a doctorate. Following stints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the University of Amsterdam, and the University of Vienna, she took up a role as Lecturer in Iranian Islamic Art History at the University of St Andrews in Scotland in 2016. Ilse Sturkenboom joined the staff of LMU Munich in 2021 as Professor of Islamic Art History. She is particularly interested in Islamicate arts of the book and the exchange between Islamicate art and other cultures.
Further researchers:
Theresa Zischkin studied English and American Studies, Art History, and Classical Archaeology at the University of Vienna. Afterwards, she completed an MLitt in Art History at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and an MA in Arts and Culture Management at the Rome Business School. She worked as a research assistant at LMU Munich in 2021-2023, where she taught two undergraduate seminars in Islamic Art History as well as courses on research and academic writing. Theresa Zischkin is currently enrolled as a PhD student at LMU Munich and is researching Mughal decorated papers for GLOBAL DECO PAPER.