Research
Curatorial Responsibilities
- Dr Oliver Watson, Keeper of the Department
- Dr Watson specializes in Islamic pottery, and is undertaking research in the early and medieval periods, and in the history of collecting.
- Dr Andrew Topsfield, Senior Assistant Keeper for Indian Art
- Dr Topsfield is preparing a new illustrated handbook of the Museum's Indian, Himalayan and South-east Asian collections.
- Dr Naman Ahuja and Dr Madhuvanti Ghose, Research Fellows for Indian Art
- Dr Naman Ahuja and Dr Madhuvanti Ghose are completing work on catalogues of the Early Indian collections up to 600AD and the Gandhara and Central Asian collections.
- Dr Weimin He, Christensen Fellow of Chinese Painting
- Dr Weimin He is undertaking research into the new acquisition of Chinese prints and is editing a catalogue with Dr. Shelagh Vainker, for the forthcoming exhibition of Chinese Prints 1950 – 2006 in the Eldon Gallery in October 2007.
- Joyce Seaman, Research Associate
- Joyce Seaman is undertaking research into the Ingram Collection of ceramics, lacquer, sword furniture, and netsuke, cross-referencing the diaries and 'shopping lists' of the Ingrams during their travels in Japan.
- Mitsuko Watanabe, Research Associate
- Mitsuko Watanabe is carrying out research into the Department's fine Japanese print collections.
- To find out more about research carried out by the Ashmolean's curators and staff between 1999 and 2006 please download the Research Profile.
Symposiums
Oliver Impey Symposium
A Symposium in Memory of Dr. Oliver Impey (1936-2005), May 31st 2006
Over the span of his 40 years’ career at the Ashmolean Museum, Oliver Impey (1936-2005) inspired, with his boundless enthusiasm, numerous students and colleagues to pursue their studies of Japanese art. Rather than publishing a festschrift, it seemed appropriate to invite a number of his former pupils and collaborators, on the occasion of what would have been his 70th birthday, to talk about the developments in their field over the past decades. The range of their subjects illustrates the width of Oliver’s interests within Japanese art; so often he managed to kindle a spark in areas that were not even his specialty. It is in this spirit that today has been organised; not so much as a series of academic lectures, but as a string of testimonies to a gifted teacher.
The Symposium in Memory of Dr Oliver Impey is supported by The Cohn Memorial Fund.
Collections
The Newberry Collection
Islamic, Indian, and Coptic textiles collected by the Egyptologist Percy E Newberry (1869-1949) at a time when historical textiles were for sale in Cairo and Alexandria. No archaeological context is known for the mainly fragmentary material, but many of the pieces will have come from Fustat, the urban centre that predates the founding of Cairo in 969AD.
The Creswell Archive
Digital images from the unique negative collection of Professor K A C Creswell, the eminent pioneer of medieval Islamic architectural history. The Creswell Archive website also provides links to ArchNet, the website established at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in co-ordination with the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, and to the Fine Arts Library at Harvard University.
Handbooks
James Allan, Islamic Ceramics. A survey of Islamic ceramics, from 9th century lustreware, c.16th and 17th century blue and white, to 17th century 'Gombroon ware'. The pieces illustrated are mainly from Turkey or Iran, formerly in the collection of Sir Alan Barlow or Gerald Reitlinger.
(c.1500-1850) paintings from the Ashmolean Museum and the Bodleian Library. The illustrations include examples from Rajput, Deccani and the Mughal schools.
Marianne Ellis, Embroideries and Samplers from Islamic Egypt. The Newberry Collection in the Ashmolean Museum is one of the world's most important collections of medieval Islamic embroideries. Collected during the first three decades of the 20th century, the pieces are mainly from Egypt or Syria. The designs are still clearly visible and the richness of patterns and technical brilliance make them a treasure trove for textile scholars and embroidery enthusiasts alike.
For further publications please see the Ashmolean Shop