Category: News

From Munich to London: A Week of Manuscripts, Margins, and Marvels After a productive Monday morning in the office in Munich, Negar and Theresa set off together for London – ready to immerse themselves in a week of exciting research and discovery. The transition from Bavarian routine to London’s vibrant scholarly landscape could not have… Continue reading LONDON, March 2026

New Perspectives on Knowledge and Making: Reflections from the 38th German Congress of Art History in Munich Attending the 38th German Congress of Art History in Munich was an inspiring and intellectually energising experience for our team. As researchers working on decorated paper, we were particularly interested in how this year’s central theme Knowledge would… Continue reading MUNICH, February 2026

Exploring the Preetorius Collection at the Museum Five Continents, Munich This week, Mandana and Theresa had the pleasure of visiting the Museum Five Continents (Museum Fünf Kontinente) in Munich to study objects from the Islamic holdings of the Preetorius Collection. The visit formed part of Mandana’s ongoing doctoral research, which focuses on the collector and… Continue reading MUNICH, February 2026

CHSTM Working Group on Colour Studies: The Global Deco Paper Project Roundtable This week, we had the pleasure of presenting our work at the CHSTM Working Group on Colour Studies, organised by Elizabeth Savage. What followed was a lively, collegial exchange with a wonderfully supportive group of peers, and we are deeply grateful for the warm… Continue reading LONDON, February 2026

Putting Theory into Practice: An Internal Paper Decoration Workshop This week, the team of Global Deco Paper decided it was time to move from theory to practice and quite literally get our hands dirty. We organised an internal workshop dedicated to experimenting with historical paper decoration techniques, using a range of materials inspired by those… Continue reading MUNICH, January 2026

December was rich with academic events in Istanbul. On her second research week, Negar took advantage of the opportunity to attend various talks and meet scholars and researchers across disciplines. During this period, she attended one of the rare public talks by Emine Fetvacı at the ANAMED Library, which focused on an Ottoman manuscript, Kalīla… Continue reading ISTANBUL, December 2025, Part II

This December, Negar stays in Istanbul for a long research trip. She started a visit to the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, whose collection of around 600 manuscripts forms a small but highly valuable corpus in the city, beautifully situated beside the Bosphorus. There, she examined several works and had a brief yet fruitful conversation with the… Continue reading ISTANBUL, December 2025, Part I

The research continued in London, where Negar once again returned to the British Library—a place that had already become an anchor point for her. Her visit turned into an unexpectedly rich and deeply enjoyable experience. As someone who regularly works with Ottoman and Turkish materials across different collections, she arrived with a sense of familiarity.… Continue reading LONDON, November 2025, Part II

Silhouetted Paper on the Streets of London – Research Trip, Part I The first week of the team’s recent research trip to London proved both productive and inspiring. The city’s libraries and museums offered a wealth of material, and Negar, Theresa and Yih-chuen made great use of their time among its collections. While Yih-chuen spent… Continue reading LONDON, November 2025, Part I

A Visit to St Andrews: Studying the St Andrews Qur’an and Persian Manuscript Provenance In early November, Theresa travelled to St Andrews for a short but fruitful research visit. At first, she spend some time at the university’s conservation lab, where she had the opportunity to study the famous St Andrews Qur’an. Using a light… Continue reading ST ANDREWS, November 2025