Current Events

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 in an 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