Emily Shovelton | SOAS University of London (original) (raw)

Conference Papers by Emily Shovelton

Research paper thumbnail of “Like graceful youths and entertainers”. Figurative Margins in Persianate Manuscripts and Albums (15th-19th c.): Crossing the line: The figurative margins in the Late Shah Jahan Album

Tenth European Conference of Iranian Studies (ECIS 10), 24 August 2023, Leiden University, South ... more Tenth European Conference of Iranian Studies (ECIS 10), 24 August 2023, Leiden University, South Holland, Netherlands.

Research paper thumbnail of Remaking Persian narratives in the Indian Sultanates: a Khamsa of Niẓāmī in the British Library

Connected Courts: Art of the South Asian Sultanates Symposium, 20 September 2019, Wolfson College... more Connected Courts: Art of the South Asian Sultanates Symposium, 20 September 2019, Wolfson College, Oxford

Research paper thumbnail of On the Edge: The decorative margins of Iskandar Sultan’s Anthology’

Iskandar’s Splendour: Art, Patronage and Representation at the Court of Iskandar b.’Umar Shaykh, ... more Iskandar’s Splendour: Art, Patronage and Representation at the Court of Iskandar b.’Umar Shaykh, 28 October 2017, St Andrew's University

Research paper thumbnail of Margins of the Divine: The Miscellany of Iskandar Sultan (British Library, Add.27261)

Symposium on Persian manuscripts, 31 October 2014, The British Library

Research paper thumbnail of The conundrum of fifteenth-century Sultanate painting

Research paper thumbnail of The Shiraz Connection: New pictorial evidence of Timurid manuscripts travelling to Sultanate India

Book Chapter by Emily Shovelton

Research paper thumbnail of The Ayyubid Era: Conflicts and Coexistence in Medieval Syria

Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean , 2007

Public lectures by Emily Shovelton

Research paper thumbnail of Traces of the now-lost painting tradition of the Delhi sultanate

12th Annual Toby Falk Memorial Lecture, Indian Art Circle, SOAS, 2010

Journal Articles by Emily Shovelton

Research paper thumbnail of The Shiraz Connection: A Shāhnāma of 1440 from the Library of Muḥammad Shāh, Sultan of Gujarat

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 2022

This article offers a new perspective on the relationship between manuscript production in Shiraz... more This article offers a new perspective on the relationship between manuscript production in Shiraz under the Timurids and in the Sultanate states of South Asia. During the so-called long fifteenth century, between Timur's invasion in  and Humaȳun's return to India in , there was a surge of creativity in the arts, despite the fractured political landscape of multiple courts. The resulting material culture is vibrant and diverse and belies prevalent historiography, which often portrays this period as culturally barren. The discussion will focus on an illustrated copy of the Shahnama of Firdausi dated /, currently in the Khuda Bakhsh Library in Patna, once owned by Muḥ ammad Shah, Sultan of Gujarat. A study of this manuscript and its cultural context challenges the notion that 'outmoded' traits are the key criteria of a Persian manuscript's possible Sultanate origin. This article further aims to initiate a re-examination of the reception and dispersal of Persian manuscripts in the Indian Sultanates and the future lives of a particular group of manuscripts made in Shiraz.

Research paper thumbnail of ‘Lifting the Veil from the Face of Depiction’: A Festschrift in Honour of Barbara Brend

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of Revisiting a Royal Sultanate Manuscript from Bengal: The Sharafnama of Nasir al-Din Nusrat Shah of 938/1531-2

IRAN, Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, 2021

The subject of this paper is a striking copy of the Sharafnama by Nizami dated 938/1531-2, made f... more The subject of this paper is a striking copy of the Sharafnama by Nizami dated 938/1531-2, made for the ruler of Bengal, Nusrat Shah (r.1519-32). This slim volume contains nine vibrant paintings that show the assimilation of both Indic and Persian artistic traditions: adaptations common to several fifteenth-century manuscripts from the Indian sultanates. However, there are no other surviving manuscripts that were produced in the court of the Bengal Sultanate, and no evidence of commercial workshops in the region. Therefore, it is a challenge to situate this Sharafnama. Since the manuscript was published some forty years ago, there have been only a few cursory mentions in general discussions. This paper aims to contextualise this manuscript within Indo-Persian pictorial and narrative traditions. The Sharafnama can be better understood in this context of both local traditions and wider Persianate culture.

Symposium Organized by Emily Shovelton

Research paper thumbnail of Connected Courts: Art of the South Asian Sultanates

Symposium co-organized by Vivek Gupta and Emily Shovelton hosted at Wolfson College, University o... more Symposium co-organized by Vivek Gupta and Emily Shovelton hosted at Wolfson College, University of Oxford

Book Reviews by Emily Shovelton

Research paper thumbnail of L'art du livre dans l'Inde des sultanats. By Éloïse Brac de la Perrière. pp. 367. Paris, Presses de l'Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2008

Journal of The Royal Asiatic Society, 2010

Online publications by Emily Shovelton

Research paper thumbnail of “Like graceful youths and entertainers”. Figurative Margins in Persianate Manuscripts and Albums (15th-19th c.): Crossing the line: The figurative margins in the Late Shah Jahan Album

Tenth European Conference of Iranian Studies (ECIS 10), 24 August 2023, Leiden University, South ... more Tenth European Conference of Iranian Studies (ECIS 10), 24 August 2023, Leiden University, South Holland, Netherlands.

Research paper thumbnail of Remaking Persian narratives in the Indian Sultanates: a Khamsa of Niẓāmī in the British Library

Connected Courts: Art of the South Asian Sultanates Symposium, 20 September 2019, Wolfson College... more Connected Courts: Art of the South Asian Sultanates Symposium, 20 September 2019, Wolfson College, Oxford

Research paper thumbnail of On the Edge: The decorative margins of Iskandar Sultan’s Anthology’

Iskandar’s Splendour: Art, Patronage and Representation at the Court of Iskandar b.’Umar Shaykh, ... more Iskandar’s Splendour: Art, Patronage and Representation at the Court of Iskandar b.’Umar Shaykh, 28 October 2017, St Andrew's University

Research paper thumbnail of Margins of the Divine: The Miscellany of Iskandar Sultan (British Library, Add.27261)

Symposium on Persian manuscripts, 31 October 2014, The British Library

Research paper thumbnail of The conundrum of fifteenth-century Sultanate painting

Research paper thumbnail of The Shiraz Connection: New pictorial evidence of Timurid manuscripts travelling to Sultanate India

Research paper thumbnail of The Ayyubid Era: Conflicts and Coexistence in Medieval Syria

Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean , 2007

Research paper thumbnail of Traces of the now-lost painting tradition of the Delhi sultanate

12th Annual Toby Falk Memorial Lecture, Indian Art Circle, SOAS, 2010

Research paper thumbnail of The Shiraz Connection: A Shāhnāma of 1440 from the Library of Muḥammad Shāh, Sultan of Gujarat

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 2022

This article offers a new perspective on the relationship between manuscript production in Shiraz... more This article offers a new perspective on the relationship between manuscript production in Shiraz under the Timurids and in the Sultanate states of South Asia. During the so-called long fifteenth century, between Timur's invasion in  and Humaȳun's return to India in , there was a surge of creativity in the arts, despite the fractured political landscape of multiple courts. The resulting material culture is vibrant and diverse and belies prevalent historiography, which often portrays this period as culturally barren. The discussion will focus on an illustrated copy of the Shahnama of Firdausi dated /, currently in the Khuda Bakhsh Library in Patna, once owned by Muḥ ammad Shah, Sultan of Gujarat. A study of this manuscript and its cultural context challenges the notion that 'outmoded' traits are the key criteria of a Persian manuscript's possible Sultanate origin. This article further aims to initiate a re-examination of the reception and dispersal of Persian manuscripts in the Indian Sultanates and the future lives of a particular group of manuscripts made in Shiraz.

Research paper thumbnail of ‘Lifting the Veil from the Face of Depiction’: A Festschrift in Honour of Barbara Brend

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of Revisiting a Royal Sultanate Manuscript from Bengal: The Sharafnama of Nasir al-Din Nusrat Shah of 938/1531-2

IRAN, Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, 2021

The subject of this paper is a striking copy of the Sharafnama by Nizami dated 938/1531-2, made f... more The subject of this paper is a striking copy of the Sharafnama by Nizami dated 938/1531-2, made for the ruler of Bengal, Nusrat Shah (r.1519-32). This slim volume contains nine vibrant paintings that show the assimilation of both Indic and Persian artistic traditions: adaptations common to several fifteenth-century manuscripts from the Indian sultanates. However, there are no other surviving manuscripts that were produced in the court of the Bengal Sultanate, and no evidence of commercial workshops in the region. Therefore, it is a challenge to situate this Sharafnama. Since the manuscript was published some forty years ago, there have been only a few cursory mentions in general discussions. This paper aims to contextualise this manuscript within Indo-Persian pictorial and narrative traditions. The Sharafnama can be better understood in this context of both local traditions and wider Persianate culture.

Research paper thumbnail of Connected Courts: Art of the South Asian Sultanates

Symposium co-organized by Vivek Gupta and Emily Shovelton hosted at Wolfson College, University o... more Symposium co-organized by Vivek Gupta and Emily Shovelton hosted at Wolfson College, University of Oxford

Research paper thumbnail of L'art du livre dans l'Inde des sultanats. By Éloïse Brac de la Perrière. pp. 367. Paris, Presses de l'Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2008

Journal of The Royal Asiatic Society, 2010