سلسله سخنرانی‌های ایران‌شناسی و فارسی‌پژوهی علیرضا احمدیان

«مردانی ملبّس به لباس موطن‌شان»: تصاویری کارشده از ایرا نیان در غرب، ۱۶۰۰ - ۱۸۴۲

سخنران: دکتر دَنیِل پاتس، استاد باستان‌شناسی و تاریخ خاور نزدیک، دانشگاه نیویورک

طرف بحث: دکتر لیلا دیبا، مورخ هنر، محقق مستقل؛ دکتر ویلِم فلور، ایران‌شناس، محقق مستقل

پرتره‌های ایرانیانی که در دورهٔ صفویه و اوایل دورهٔ قاجار (اوایل قرن هفدهم تا اوایل قرن نوزدهم میلادی) به غرب سفر ک رده‌اند، کمتر مورد توجه قرار گرفته است. در این سخنرانی مجموعه‌ای از تصاویر - شامل طراحی، نقاشی، حکاکی، لیتوگرافی و حتی یک سایه‌نما - از ایرانیان در بو ستون، ژنو، لندن، پاریس، پراگ، ساراتوگا اسپرینگز، سن پترزبورگ، وین و واشنگتن دی سی که مربوط به سال‌های ۱۶۰۱ تا ۱۸۴۲ هستند، مورد بحث قرار می‌گیرند. برخی از شخصیت‌های به تصویر کشیده شده در این پرتره‌ها افراد عالی‌رتبه‌ای از طبقه ٔ نخبگان بودند و برخی دیگر پیشینه‌ای عادی داشتند. نکتهٔ مشترک در خصوص تمام این شخصیت‌ها آن است که همه مشغول انجام نوعی مأموریت در کشور مقصد بودند. نحو هٔ پوشش این افراد برای هنرمندان آن زمان و و عموم مردم جذابیت ویژه‌ای داشت و اثری ماندگار بر اذهان ناظران غربی، که فقط معدودی از آن‌ها به سرزمین شیر و خورشید سفر کرده بودند، بر جای گذاشت.

The Alireza Ahmadian L ecture in Iranian and Persianate Studies presents: “Dressed in the Costume of His Country:” Portraits of Persians Done in the West\, 1600–1842 on Dece mber 3\, 2022.

As a class\, portraits of Persians who travelled to th e West during the Safavid and early Qajar period (early 17^th-ear ly 19^th century) have received little attention. This lecture br ings together a set of images — drawings\, paintings\, etchings\, lithograp hs and even a silhouette — of Persians\, done in Boston\, Geneva\, London\, Paris\, Prague\, Saratoga Springs\, St. Petersburg\, Vienna and Washington DC\, between 1601 and 1842. Some of the subjects were high-ranking individ uals who were members of the élite class while others were from modest back grounds. All were on a mission of one sort or another and portraiture\, in the days before photography\, commemorated their visits to distant capitals \, offering us a rare glimpse at the dress\, accoutrements and regalia worn by these visitors to foreign lands. Subjects of fascination for both conte mporary artists and a well-informed public\, intrigued by all things Persia n and able to follow the movements of these travelers in the European and A merican press\, the sitters in these works left an indelible mark in the co nsciousness of Western observers\, only a few of whom ever journeyed themse lves to the Land of the Lion and the Sun.

Guest Speaker

Daniel T. Potts is Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Archaeolog y and History at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World\, New Yor k University. His lifelong fascination with and love of Iranian history and archaeology began with his first visit to Iran in 1973 and has led him to work on a wide range of topics ranging in time from prehistory to the moder n era. He is the author of The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Trans formation of an Ancient Iranian State (Cambridge\, 1999\, 2nd ed. 2016 )\, Nomadism in Iran: From Antiquity to the Modern Era (Oxford\, 2 014)\, Persia Portrayed: Envoys to the West\, 1600-1842 (Mage\, 20 22) and A Nook in the Temple of Fame: French Military Officers in Persi an Service\, 1806-1827 (Mage\, 2023). He was also the editor of The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran (Oxford\, 2013) and Agreeable Ne ws from Persia: Iran in the Colonial and Early Republican American Press\, 1712-1848 (Springer\, 2022). He received his AB (1975) and PhD (1980) at Harvard\, and is a Consulting Editor for the Encyclopaedia Iranica\, a Corresponding Member of the German Archaeological Institute and ISM EO (Associazione Internazionale di Studi sul Mediterraneo e l’Oriente) and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy.

Discussants

Layla Diba is an independent scholar\, art advisor and curat or. She has been Director and Chief Curator of the Negarestan Museum in Teh eran (1975–79)\, art advisor for the Private Secretariat of HM Queen Farah of Iran\, and Hagop Kevorkian Curator of Islamic Art at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. From 1994 to 2006\, she was Visiting Professor of Islamic Art at B ard Graduate Center. In 2006\, Dr. Diba was invited to develop programming and strategy for the future Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Museum and to serve on the Museum’s Asian Art Council and Middle East Focus Group. She has curated th e landmark The Qajar Epoch: Royal Persian Paintings exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in 1998\, exhibitions at the Lehmann-Maupin and Leila Taghinia Milani Heller Galleries in New York and served as an advisor to the Doris Duke Foundation. Her recent publications include Turkmen Silver Ornaments from the Marshall and Marilyn Wolf Collection (Metrop olitan Museum of Art\, 2011). In 2013 she co-curated Iran Modern\, the first major exhibition devoted to Iranian Modern Art for the Asia Soci ety Museum\, New York (September 5\, 2013- January 5\, 2014) and co-edited the accompanying publication. Dr. Diba holds a B.A. from Wellesley College and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts of New York Universit y. Her articles\, including over 50 essays on Iranian art\, have appeared i n numerous scholarly publications. Dr. Diba sits on the Board of The Soudav ar Memorial Foundation and of the National Museum of Asian Art in Washingto n. She is also a collector of Persian and Islamic art and a benefactor and advocate for numerous Persian cultural causes.

Willem Floor studied development economics and non-western sociology\, as well a s Persian\, Arabic and Islamology from 1963-67 at the University of Utrecht (the Netherlands). He received his doctoral degree from the University of Leiden in 1971. Since 1983\, Dr. Floor was employed by the World Bank as an energy specialist\, however\, after his retirement in 2002\, he has dedica ted his time to the study of the social and political history of Iran\, and has published extensively throughout this time. Many know him for his seri es of 10 books on the Persian Gulf\, published from 2006 to 2017. His other recent books include Astrakhan: A Man of Two Worlds: Pedros Bedik in I ran\, 1670–1675 (2013)\, The Monetary History of Iran: From the Sa favids to the Qajars (Iran and the Persianate World) (2013)\, Hist ory of Bread in Iran (2015)\, Studies in the History of Medicine i n Iran (2018)\, Kermanshah: City and Province\, 1850–1945 (20 18)\, Salar al-Dowleh: A Delusional Prince and Wannabe Shah (2018) \, Persian Pleasures: How Iranians Relaxed Through the Centuries with F ood\, Drink and Drugs (2019). Willem Floor has also published several translations.

About the Alireza Ahmadian Lectures i n Iranian and Persianate Studies: Alireza Ahmadian (1981 – 2019) w as an enthusiastic researcher\, a consummate socio-political analyst\, and an opinion leader on foreign policy who nurtured the virtues of diplomatic dialogue and liberal democracy. Alireza was a proud and devoted UBC alumnus \, supporter of UBC’s Department of Asian Studies\, and beloved member of C anadian-Iranian Community. The department renamed this lecture series in hi s honour in 2019. Alireza’s friends in the community have provided funding to support this series\, and this generous gift will see these important ac ademic and community engagement events supported through to the end of the 2025/2026 academic year. Read More ...

Should you have any que stions\, please contact the Department of Asian Studies at Asian.Studies@ubc.ca.