Conference
The Timurid Period: Cultural Production, Exchange and Legacies
- Date
- Thursday 26 May 2016 - Friday 27 May 2016
- Location
- Gravensteen
Pieterskerkhof 6
2311 SR Leiden - Room
- 011
Workshop organized within the Leiden Central Asia Initiative, funded by the research profile Asian Modernities and Traditions. The event will focus on cultural production, used here as a blanket term for various forms of literary and artistic production, in relation to patterns of cultural exchange in the Timurid period. Convened by Gabrielle van den Berg and Elena Paskaleva.
Timur and his descendants created a complex aesthetic vocabulary based on their shared TurcoMongol heritage. Yet this vocabulary was constantly replenished through a dynamic cultural exchange. The aim of the workshop is to map the interaction between imperial ideology, literary and artistic production in a diachronic and synchronic perspective, and to contextualize the process dynamics through textual and material analysis. The central question is how literary and artistic production, mapped, measured and analysed for different representatives of the Timurid dynasty and through a broad variety of media, related to the development of imperial ideology in the Turko-Persian world. How far was cultural production in the Timurid period the result of cultural exchange, and how did this unfold?
Programme
Wednesday, 25 May
16.00-17.30 Book presentation Intellectual Networks in Timurid Iran
By Evrim Binbas, Royal Holloway, University of London
Venue: Lipsius Building, Room 228
17.30-18.30 Reception with drinks
Thursday, 26 May
8.30-9.00 Coffee and tea
9.00-9.20 Welcome
9.00-9.10 Dr. Gabrielle van den Berg, Leiden University
9.10-9.20 Dr. Vladimir Norov, Benelux Ambassador of Uzbekistan
9.20-9.30 In the shadow of the Samarkand monuments: 40 years of transformation as seen by an archaeologist
Frantz Grenet, Collège de France
9.30-11.30 Timurid Historiographical Narratives and Legacies
Chair: Evrim Binbas, Royal Holloway, University of London
Timurid ideology and cultural production in a regional context
Beatrice Manz, Tufts University
Reflection of international relations of the Timurid state in the Insha collections: Questions of textual analysis and problems of authenticity
(in Russian with English translation)
Sanjar Gulomov, Al-Biruni Centre of Oriental Manuscripts, Institute of Oriental Studies
Evidence of Timurid legitimacy in the Safavid period? The case of the Barnābādi Khwājas of Herat
Maria Szuppe, CNRS, UMR Mondes iranien et indien
11.30-12.30 Timurid Architecture and Epigraphy
Chair: Daniel C. Waugh, University of Washington Seattle
Epigraphic monuments of Samarqand from the time of Timur and the Timurid period: Cultural-historical contexts
(in Russian with English translation)
Bakhtiyar Babadjanov, Al-Biruni Centre of Oriental Manuscripts, Institute of Oriental Studies
Texts added, texts removed: Architectural narratives at Gur-i Amir in Samarqand
Elena Paskaleva, Leiden University
12.30-13.30 Lunch (Gravensteen Building for all guests)
13.30-15.30 Timurid Aesthetics
Chair: Frantz Grenet, Collège de France
Builders and destroyers: Military leaders as demiurges of aesthetics in the Timurid age, Michele Bernardini, Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale”
Jade: An Introduction to Timurid Aesthetics
Yuka Kadoi, University of Edinburgh
A unique syncretism: the Timurids' glazed tiles of Shahrisabz
Céline Ollagnier, Association "Sciences et Patrimoine" PACT
A Timurid Resonance? New Perspectives on Ceramic Tile Production in Tabriz in the 15th century
Sandra Aube, CNRS, UMR Mondes iranien et indien
15.30-16.00 Coffee break
16.00-17.30 Timurid Arts of the Book
Chair: Francis Richard, BULAC & UMR Mondes iranien et indien
Manuscripts of the Timurid Period - Carries of culture
(in Russian with English translation)
Nozim Khabibullaev, Tashkent
When Paper was Gold: Diplomacy, Cultural Encounter and the Arts of the Book under the Timurids, ca. 1370-1507
Yusen Yu, University of Heidelberg
Decorative papers in Timurid manuscript culture
Jake Benson, Leiden University
19.00 Conference dinner (only for invited speakers and chairs)
Restaurant: Prentenkabinet, Kloksteeg 25, 2311 SK Leiden (Map)
Friday, 27 May
9.00-10.30 Timurid Literary Legacies
Chair: Gabrielle van den Berg, Leiden University
Timurid princes as patrons of science and culture - Shah Rukh’s sons
(in Russian with English translation)
Khurshid Fayziev, director Amir Timur Museum, Tashkent
The Timurid ruler and poet as an object of imitation - Нusayn Baykara and Alisher Navai
Aftandil Erkinov, National University of Uzbekistan / ZMO Berlin
10.30-11.00 Coffee break
11.00-12.30 Timurid Geographical Narratives
Chair: Liesbeth Geevers, Leiden University
Crossing the Borders and Times: The Image of Central Asia in China from the Qarakhanids to the Timurids
Dilnoza Duturaeva, Uzbek Academy of Sciences/ University of Bonn
Geographical information in historical sources from the Timurid period (Central Asia)
(in Russian with English translation)
Omonulla Buriev, Tashkent
12.30-13.30 Lunch (Lipsius Building, only for invited speakers and chairs)
13.30-15.00 Timurid Dynastic Legacies
Chair: Gabrielle van den Berg, Leiden University
The Enigmatic Tārīkh-i khāndān-i tīmūriyya
Ron Sela, Indiana University Bloomington
The Timurid dynastic legacy: change and continuity in dynastic rule in Iran and Central Asia, 15th-16th centuries
Liesbeth Geevers, Leiden University
Fortifications of power in the Manğīt period based on the model of the Timurids
Gulchekhra Sultonova, Uzbek Academy of Sciences/ Martin Luther Universität Halle-Wittenberg
15.00-15.30 Coffee break
15.30-17.00 Timurid Religious and Political Iconography
Chair: Elena Paskaleva, Leiden University
Timurids and Khoja Ahmad Yasawi: Evolution of His Image
(in Russian with English translation)
Ashirbek Muminov, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University Astana
Amir Timur in the modern history of Uzbekistan
Bakhrom Abdukhalimov, Uzbek Academy of Sciences
17.00-17.30 Closing remarks
The event is organized within the Leiden Central Asia Initiative, funded by the research profile Asian Modernities and Traditions.
Convened by Gabrielle van den Berg and Elena Paskaleva.
Themes
Rather than focusing on a single genre, medium or language of courtly literary production, the workshop will take a comparative and connective perspective. Questions that may be addressed include:
- Narratives: How does literary and artistic production relate to the development of an imperial ideology under the Timurids? How were didactic traditions used for the exaltation of noble origins and for the construction of genealogies?
- Aesthetics: How did culturally diverse artistic practices contribute to the development of a distinct Timurid visual morphology? How were visions of kingship articulated in the urbanscape and landscape of major Timurid cities?
- Beliefs: How was royal grandeur transformed through the diverse visual lexicon of local Islamic cult activities? How was the Timurid ideological pedigree influenced by orthodox Islam and Sufism? What was the impact of these complex theological interactions on the cultural production throughout the Timurid empire?
- Legacies: How did the evolving imperial ideology serve the various legitimization projects of the consecutive ruling dynasties from India to Turkey? How did the legacy of Timurid royal patronage resonate with the Uzbeks, Mughals, Safavids and the Ottomans?
The themes of the workshop are broad on purpose, as we wish to welcome speakers from different disciplines and backgrounds.
Participation is only by invitation.
Participants
One of the goals of the Leiden Central Asia Initiative is to provide an academic platform to scholars from Central Asia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, academic interactions across the region have been slow and sporadic. Leiden University would like to act as a platform for academic exchange between Western and Central Asian scholars working on the Timurid period. That is why, we are very glad that a substantial number of Uzbek colleagues have accepted our invitation. Their contributions will focus on epigraphy, codicology, genealogy, historiography and numismatics.
Confirmed speakers
Beatrice Manz, Tufts University, USA
Charles Melville, Cambridge University, UK
Ron Sela, Indiana University Bloomington, USA
Michele Bernardini, University of Naples, Italy
Francis Richard, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France
Daniel C. Waugh, University of Washington Seattle, USA
Ashirbek Muminov, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Kazakhstan
Bakhrom Abdukhalimov, Vice-President, Uzbek Academy of Sciences
Amanulla Buriev, Uzbekistan
Maria Szuppe, Université de La Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3, France
Firuza Abdullaeva, Cambridge University, UK
Yuka Kadoi, University of Edinburgh, UK
Evrim Binbas, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
Nozim Khabibullaev, Uzbekistan
Khurshid Fayziev, Director Timurid Museum, Uzbekistan
Bakhtiyar Babadjanov, Uzbekistan
Sanjar Gulomov, Uzbekistan
Liesbeth Geevers, Leiden University, The Netherlands
Céline Ollagnier, Association "Sciences et Patrimoine" PACT, France
Sandra Aube, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France
Yusen Yu, University of Heidelberg, Germany
Jake Benson, Leiden University, The Netherlands
Gulchekhra Sultonova, Uzbek Academy of Sciences / Martin Luther Universität Halle Wittenberg
Dilnoza Duturaeva, Uzbek Academy of Sciences / Institute of Oriental and Asian Studies, University of Bonn
Gabrielle van den Berg, Leiden University, The Netherlands
Elena Paskaleva, Leiden University, The Netherlands