IMC 2013: Sessions
Session 715: Variegated Pleasures: The Sensation of Stone in Medieval Visual and Material Culture
Tuesday 2 July 2013, 14.15-15.45
| Sponsor: | Student Committee, International Center of Medieval Art |
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| Organiser: | Colleen Thomas, Department of the History of Art & Architecture, Trinity College Dublin |
| Moderator/Chair: | Stephanie Marie Rushe Chapman, Department of Art History & Archaeology, University of Missouri, Columbia |
| Paper 715-a | Like Streams of Water: Strigilated Sarcophagi as Enlivened Stone (Language: English) Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Art History - General, Art History - Decorative Arts, Art History - Sculpture |
| Paper 715-b | Mimesis and Materiality: Imitating Marble in the Pavement Mosaics of North African Churches (Language: English) Index terms: Archaeology - Sites, Architecture - Religious, Art History - General, Art History - Decorative Arts |
| Paper 715-c | Marble and Spolia in Early Islam (Language: English) Index terms: Architecture - Religious, Art History - General, Art History - Decorative Arts, Art History - Sculpture |
| Abstract | As material for sumptuous objects, sculpture, and architectural decoration, variegated stones such as marble and alabaster can be seen as trans-historical media, used and re-used in a wide array of cultural contexts for visual appeal. Alternatively, materials like glass, ivory, wood, and paper were painted and treated to mimic variegated stones with the intention of misleading one's perception. Whether marble, marbled, or marble-like, this category of materials reflects the shared power of variegated surfaces to channel specific sensory experiences that acknowledge the pleasures of color, sound, and movement. This session includes papers that address the significance of the use and re-use of variegated stones and marble-like surfaces in the visual and material cultures of the Middle Ages. |