The so-called auxiliary disciplines focussing on questions of materiality are interested especially in issues of authenticity and authorship. They usually do not aim at analysing the writing surface “paper” so that the practical, theoretical and semantic instruments to observe and describe historical papers in Europe and elsewhere still have to be found. This interest also involves the way papers are pasted together, bound, wrapped, framed with or mounted onto other materials to form a complete manuscript, scroll or volume.
We are convinced that the artefacts themselves, and particularly the materials they consist of, can tell us more about the meaning and the use of the written word in past societies. This is why, looking at the material itself, we are posing the following questions:
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How is paper made in different cultural contexts? Does fibre analysis indicate where and how paper was produced?
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Is there a useful framework to judge the quality of paper based on paper as a material itself?
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What does the binding of handscrolls and codices tell us about the status and use of these objects?
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By examining a paper artefact, can we detect specific traces of cultural practices left by those who owned or used the books, documents, calligraphies or paintings?
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Do these human traces inform us about the role and the presence of written sources in particular cultural and historical contexts?
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How exactly did people “live with” books, documents or ephemera in past societies?
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How did they store and save them from destruction?
Programme
Thursday, 18 July, Venue: Institute of East Asian Art History, Seminarstr. 4, 69117 Heidelberg, Seminar room, 3rd Floor
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14.00-14.15 |
Carla Meyer, Rebecca Sauer, Melanie Trede (Heidelberg): Introduction |
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14.15-15.15 |
Sydney Thomson, conservator of Japanese screens and scrolls, restorient (Leiden/Netherlands) |
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15.20-16.20 |
Amélie Couvrat Desvergnes, paper conservator, Museum for Islamic Art (Qatar/Doha) |
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16.20-16.40 |
coffee break |
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16.40-17.40 |
Johannes Follmer, paper-maker, specialized in historical modes of paper manufacture (Homburg, Triefenstein) |
Friday, 19 July, Venues: Heidelberg Papyrological Collection, University Library and Museum of Ethnology
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9.00-11.00 |
Introduction to the Heidelberg Papyrological Collection (Rodney Ast, Heidelberg) |
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11.15-13.00 |
Introduction to the Manuscript Collection hosted at Heidelberg University Library (Karin Zimmermann, Heidelberg) |
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13.15-14.45 |
lunch |
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14.45-16.45 |
Museum of Ethnology, Heidelberg |
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17.00-17.30 |
Concluding round table |
Please note that the number of participants for the workshop sessions on Friday morning is limited to 25 persons max. For registration, please send an email to rebecca.sauer@ori.uni-heidelberg.de until July 1st 2013 (required!).
The workshop is organized by:
Subproject A6 „Die papierne Umwälzung im spätmittelalterlichen Europa“
Institut für Fränkisch-Pfälzische Geschichte und Landeskunde
Subproject B7 “Aspekte der Medialität und Materialität illuminierter Querrollen im mittelalterlichen Japan”
Institute of East Asian Art History
Subproject C6 „Beruf und Bildung im islamischen Kanzleiwesen“
Seminar für Sprachen und Kulturen des Vorderen Orients-Islamwissenschaft/Arabistik
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