Asian Art and History

Lecture

Asian Art and History Silver and Southern Asia The 19th Century Transformed

Katherine Anne Paul, Ph.D., The Virginia and William M. Spencer III Curator of Asian Art, Birmingham Museum of Art

Discover Southern Asia’s role in the origination, transformation and consumption of once-rarified goods, to those taken for granted daily around the world. Silver elevates items like coffee, tea, sugar, milk, pepper, salt, tobacco, India pale ale, fruit punch, ketchup and mustard. Silver commemorates milestones like birth, marriage and death, as well as sporting events and military service. Silver also celebrates important moments in many religious traditions. In the 19th century, increased access to silver — made possible through excavations of new mines and through recirculation of earlier silver currency — catalyzed new roles for silver. Silvered glass mirrors were invented. Silver made photographs, and the frames that showcased them, possible. Silversmiths in Southern Asia promoted all this through dazzling artistry featured in this talk.

This presentation is part of the Asian Art and History series.

Katherine Anne Paul

Katherine Anne Paul

Katherine Anne Paul is lead curator and Virginia and William M. Spencer III Curator of Asian Art at the Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama. A Fulbright scholar, her work showcases both contemporary and classic art originating from Asia through lectures, publications and exhibitions. Select projects include: Silver & Ceremony from South & Southeast Asia, 1830-1930; Expanding Darshan: Manjari Sharma, To See and Be Seen; Handheld Landscapes: The Four Seasons in Chinese Painting; and Wondrous Worlds: Art & Islam Through Time and Place. She holds a B.A. from Reed College and a M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has held positions at the Newark Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History and the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C.