Moving Women, Moving Objects II
Sponsoring Organization(s)
International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA)
Organizer Name
Tracy Chapman Hamilton, Mariah Proctor-Tiffany
Organizer Affiliation
Sweet Briar College, California State Univ.-Long Beach
Presider Name
Tracy Chapman Hamilton, Mariah Proctor-Tiffany
Paper Title 1
Networks of Gold and Silver: The Collecting of Isabella of France
Presenter 1 Name
Anne Rudloff Stanton
Presenter 1 Affiliation
Univ. of Missouri-Columbia
Paper Title 2
Women Collectors and Patrons: Toward a Cartography of Exchange in the Late Middle Ages
Presenter 2 Name
Diane Antille
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Univ. de Neuchâtel
Paper Title 3
Empress Matilda and the Valasse Reliquary Cross: From the Holy Roman Empire to the Plantagenet Realm
Presenter 3 Name
Nicolas Hatot
Presenter 3 Affiliation
Musée des Antiquités, Rouen
Paper Title 4
Respondent
Presenter 4 Name
Joan A. Holladay
Presenter 4 Affiliation
Univ. of Texas-Austin
Start Date
17-5-2015 10:30 AM
Session Location
Schneider 1220
Description
As we examine medieval works of art like manuscripts, reliquaries, and jewels, today anchored and spotlighted in their museum vitrines, it is easy to imagine these sumptuous objects at rest in the hands of their original owners. But, in truth, they were in constant motion, and women were especially responsible for the movement of these works of art.
This panel seeks to enrich the discussion of women and their relationships with their objects that, in the area of non-book arts, remains relatively unexplored. Luscious objects were gifts that traveled lesser and greater distances, some imported in brides’ nuptial coffers and many more commissioned and used to unite women separated by their politically advantageous marriages. Sisters and mothers, grandmothers and aunts, daughters and cousins, as well as friends and allies, all exchanged works of art with shared stories and iconographies. These pieces were the tokens that served as tribute, the centerpieces of rituals and ceremonies, the precious keepsakes enjoyed in intimate places, and the markers of architectural spaces often also founded or endowed by these women.
Mariah Proctor-Tiffany and Tracy Chapman Hamilton
Moving Women, Moving Objects II
Schneider 1220
As we examine medieval works of art like manuscripts, reliquaries, and jewels, today anchored and spotlighted in their museum vitrines, it is easy to imagine these sumptuous objects at rest in the hands of their original owners. But, in truth, they were in constant motion, and women were especially responsible for the movement of these works of art.
This panel seeks to enrich the discussion of women and their relationships with their objects that, in the area of non-book arts, remains relatively unexplored. Luscious objects were gifts that traveled lesser and greater distances, some imported in brides’ nuptial coffers and many more commissioned and used to unite women separated by their politically advantageous marriages. Sisters and mothers, grandmothers and aunts, daughters and cousins, as well as friends and allies, all exchanged works of art with shared stories and iconographies. These pieces were the tokens that served as tribute, the centerpieces of rituals and ceremonies, the precious keepsakes enjoyed in intimate places, and the markers of architectural spaces often also founded or endowed by these women.
Mariah Proctor-Tiffany and Tracy Chapman Hamilton