IMC 2023: Sessions

Session 115: Tracing Material Identities in the Eastern Medieval World

Monday 3 July 2023, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:	Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art & Culture
Organiser:	Rachel Catherine Patt, Stanley J Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, Princeton University
Moderator/Chair:	Nava Streiter, Department of History of Art, Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania
Paper 115-a	Beardless Bishops: Reflections on Identity in the Chalice of the Patriarchs (Language: English) Lora Webb, Department of Art & Art History Stanford University / Bibliotheca Hertziana Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte Roma Index terms: Art History - General, Byzantine Studies, Gender Studies
Paper 115-b	Shifting Identities: Late Antique Sarcophagi from Senators to Saints (Language: English) Alexis Gorby, School of Archaeology / St John's College, University of Oxford Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Art History - Sculpture, Byzantine Studies
Paper 115-c	Materials Matter: Glimpses of Classical Heritage in Byzantine Luxury Arts (Language: English) Rachel Catherine Patt, Stanley J Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, Princeton University Index terms: Art History - Decorative Arts, Byzantine Studies
Abstract	From monogrammed seals to articles of adornment to portraits decorating manuscripts, the Byzantine world was rich with material things that expressed their users' identities in settings as diverse as markets and monasteries. Often portable, such objects could create networks between persons over time and space, accruing layers of associations as they were adopted in new contexts. This panel explores how people's notions of selfhood were wrapped up in the objects they employed to fashion their identities. Touching upon issues of gender and social status, it reveals how the abstract notion of identity was entangled with tangible aspects of Byzantine culture.