“The Moslems want to see everything from close by”: seeing in pre-modern Eurasia
In 1626 , to gift their Mughal host in India, Francisco Pelsaert, an agent for the Dutch East India Company, sent the following request to his superiors in Europe: “Send us two or three good battle pictures, painted by an artist with a pleasing style, for the Moslems (Muslims) want to see everything from close by.” My talk starts with a discussion of the (in)validity of Pelsaertʼs observation and bring together a range of case studies to examine the relationship between objects and its beholders in Muslim societies in pre-modern Eurasia. It will also tentatively explore the link of the viewing habitus with the science of optics.
Date: 12 October 2020, 16:00 (Monday, 1st week, Michaelmas 2020)
Venue: Online with Zoom
Speaker: Yusen Yu (Oxford)
Organising department: Oxford Centre for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology
Organiser contact email address: hsmt@history.ox.ac.uk
Part of: Oxford Centre for the History of Science Medicine & Technology (OCHSMT) Seminars and Events
Booking required?: Required
Booking url: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0oceiqrjwpE9MYGzWuzjUU6ZHKXoBB9m4O
Audience: Public
Editor: Laura Spence