A dazzling testament to Southern Asian silver's role in the transformation and consumption of once rarified goods to those taken for granted daily around the world.
Silver elevates use, not only for the diverse religious rituals of Southern Asia, but also consumption of and access to then-new items: photographs, colored prints, mirrors, railways, and automobiles; newly invented or trans-planted foods including teas and coffees, Indian pale ale, punch, antipodean wines, milk products, relishes, mustards, fruits, and specialty seasonings (like pepper, salt, and sugar). Many of these items originated in Southern Asia and were among the first tinned or bottled items to circulate in global markets. Five scholarly essays and two interviews discuss the artistry and functionality of Southern Asian silver. A spectacular array of 130 suites of silver and twenty-two design drawings, devotedly collected by Mr. Harish K. Patel, showcases Southern Asia's cultural and economic soft power through silver.
SELLING POINTS: .
Internationally significant Harish K. Patel Collection is renowned for its depth and breadth, with especially rare and beautiful pieces. .
Thematic arrangement of the main collection catalog and the chapters gives the volume a long life beyond the accompanying exhibition. . Invites people of all backgrounds to learn about the cultural richness and artistic splendor of South Asia. .
Focus shifts to the functional use of silver through a global temporal lens. .
Offers answers for why this dazzling silver was made and how it was used. .
Reveals under-told stories about Southern Asia's role in originating many of these goods.
200 colour illustrations, 4 maps
Director’s Foreword; Chair’s Preface; Acknowledgements; Chapter 1 Making Modernity: Keys to a Century of Aspirations through Southern Asian Silver, 1830s–1930s by Katherine Anne Paul; Chapter 2 Stories of Silver: Interview with Collectors Harish K. Patel and Veronica McDavid; Chapter 3 Silver for Ceremony by Kimberly Masteller; Chapter 4 Silver and Glory: A Consideration of Trophies, Sport, and Colonialism in India by Tushara Bindu Gude; Chapter 5 Connecting Coffee Cultures of India with Birmingham: An Interview with Praveena Sundarraj; Chapter 6 Tracing Tea Cultures in India: Antecedents and the Nineteenth Century by Romita Ray; Catalogue: Stories in Silver: Religious Arts; Aspirational Arts; Sensorial Arts; Revivalism in Silver Art; Appendix A Three Maps of India’s Trade and Infrastructure from the Mid-Nineteenth to Early-Twentieth Century by Richard A. Pegg; Appendix B Timeline; Appendix C Designing Silver: Access for All in the Archives of the Birmingham Museum of Art by Laura C. Woodard; Appendix D Silversmith Biographies; Appendix E Glossary; Recommended Reading; Index; Contributor Biographies.
Tushara Bindu Gude is formerly associate curator of South and Southeast Asian Art at LACMA. Kimberly Masteller is Jeanne McCray Beals Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Katherine Anne Paul is lead curator and Virginia and William M. Spencer III Curator of Asian Art, Birmingham Museum of Art. Richard A. Pegg is the director and curator of Asian Art for the MacLean Collection. Romita Ray is associate professor of Art History at Syracuse University. Laura C. Woodard is librarian and archivist, Birmingham Museum of Art.
