The World of Shah ʿAbbas
Symposium - Programme
15-16 May, 2009
BP Lecture Theatre
The British Museum
Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DG
A symposium that will cover the political, social, economic, and religious policies of Shah ʿAbbas, and his impact on Iran's art and architecture
Friday 15th May 2009
| 9:15-10:00 | Registration |
| 10:00 | Welcome and introductory remarks: Sheila Canby |
| 10:30 | 'A year in the life of Shah ʿAbbas I: an historiographical approach' Charles Melville, University of Cambridge |
| 11:00 | '"When the Great Prince ceased to live Persia ceased to prosper": later verdicts on the reign of 'Abbas I' Andrew Newman, University of Edinburgh |
| 11:30 | Tea/coffee |
| 12:00 | 'Shah ʿAbbas and the Qizilbash: The Struggle over Fars and Kerman' Rudi Mathee, University of Delaware |
| 12:30 | "Remembering the Sufi Past During the Reign of Shah ʿAbbas" Shahzad Bashir, Stanford University |
| 1:00 | Lunch (not provided) |
| 2:30 | 'Shah ʿAbbas - free trader or mercantilist?' Willem Floor, independent scholar, Washington, DC |
| 3:00 | 'Safavid coins:continuation and change' Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis, British Museum |
| 3:30 | 'Religion and Law in the Reign of Shah ʿAbbas: Shaykh Baha' al-Din al-Amili's legal project' Robert Gleave, University of Exeter |
| 4:00 | Tea |
| 4:30 | 'Non-Muslims of Isfahan during the reign of Shah ʿAbbas I and his successors' Edmund Herzig, University of Oxford |
| 5:00 | TBC |
| 5:20-5:45 | Discussion |
Saturday 16th May 2009
| 10:00 | 'Architecture and the Representation of Kingship during the reign of Abbas I' Kishwar Rizvi, Yale University |
| 10:30 | 'Chinese Porcelains from the Ardabil Shrine: Collecting, Collections, and Display' Linda Komaroff, Los Angeles County Museum of Art |
| 11:00 | 'Investigation of the Sarih-al Milk of the Shrine of Shaykh Safi-al din Ardebili' Mahnaz Rahimifar, National Museum of Iran |
| 11:30 | Tea/coffee |
| 12:00 | 'The Madrasa Khan at Shiraz' Alireza Anisi, Barakat Trust Fellow, University of Oxford |
| 12:30 | 'Illustrated Shiraz Manuscripts during the Reign of Shah ʿAbbas I' Lale Uluç, Bogaziçi University, Istanbul |
| 1:00 | Lunch (not provided) |
| 2:30 | 'Alireza-ye 'Abbasi and a selection of his work' Mohammed-Hassan Semsar, Golestan Palace Museum |
| 3:00 | 'Shah ʿAbbas and the Catholic missionaries: Diplomacy and its cultural implications' Francis Richard, Universite de Paris, Sorbonne |
| 3:30 | 'Shah ʿAbbas's Gift of the Mantiq al-Tayr to the Ardabil Shrine' Eleanor Sims, independent scholar |
| 4:00 | Tea |
| 4:30 | 'Gentlemen of Leisure: influence of the Shah ʿAbbas single-figure style received in Mughal India' Barbara Brend, independent scholar |
| 5:00 | 'Safavid versus Ottoman' Tim Stanley, Victoria and Albert Museum |
| 5:20-5:45 | Discussion |