Past Events

Monday, March 21, 2022 - 04:00pm - 05:00pm

Please join us for an afternoon tour and early exploration of a pair of
silver thrones from India, recently conserved and soon to be featured inan exhibition opening this coming May at the Nelson Atkins Museum!

Kimberley Masteller (Jeanne McCray Beals Curator of South & Southeast
Asian Art) and Stephanie Spence (Objects Conservation Fellow) will
present on a pair of fascinating silver European-style thrones produced
in the late colonial-era India and explain the complex project of
revitalizing them for museum display.  Originally commissioned In 1911
for a new royal palace by the Maharawal (ruler) of Dungarpur, a small
kingdom in the western state of Rajasthan, they were likely intended for
festivities associated with King George V’s coronation as Emperor of
India that same year.  The thrones were brought to Europe in 1969 and
acquired by the Nelson-Atkins in 2013. Since then, the museum, with
local and international partners, restored these objects, using a
combination of advanced technologies and traditional Indian art forms to
give a sense of their original appearance.  The presentation will engage
the process of researching the history of these objects and tracing
their movements from colonial India to Europe and finally to the US, in
the process challenging perceptions of Oriental splendor and addressing
issues of masculinity and femininity in royal display.  In addition to
conserving the thrones themselves, the team at the Nelson Atkins also
restored the textile parasols that accompanied the ensemble. Joining
them in conversation from London will be renown silver specialist
Wynyard Wilkinson Esq.

The link to register for "Game of Thrones: Collecting, Interpreting, and
Conserving the Royal Thrones of Dungarpur, India" is as follows:
https://rutgers.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIsce2rqjssGNx9fghOuUJbzFGp3Yag9QRP

The event is co-sponsored by the Rutgers British Studies Center, the
South Asian Studies Program, and Global Asias Initiative

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