Isabelle Imbert welcomes Fuchsia Hart, Sarikhani Curator for the Iranian Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Fuchsia is an art historian specialised in the artistic productions of 19th century Iran, ruled by the Qajar dynasty between 1789 and 1925, and particularly on the reign of Fath 'Ali Shah Qajar, who reigned from 1797 till 1834. His patronage is known to us today through his numerous portraits and courtly arts, but also his important architectural patronage of Shia shrines, which is the topic of Fuchsia's ongoing doctoral research. In the episode, she talks about the arts, kingship and diplomacy of Fath 'Ali Shah, as well as her work in the V&A.

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Mentioned in the Episode and Further Links

• Follow the Art Informant on Instagram and X
• Follow Fuchsia Hart on Instagram, X and on her website
  • Fuchsia Hart: "Contagion or Cure? A History of Healing and Pandemic in Qom", Ajam, 5 Dec 2020
• Fath Ali Shah Qajar and Qajar Iran
  • Fuchsia Hart, "The Tomb of Fath-ʿAli Shah Qajar" (recording), Youtube Video, "Private Video" Channel, April 2023
  • Moya Carey, Persian Art: Collecting the Arts of Iran in the 19th Century, London: V&A, 2018 (available on Amazon)
  • Markus Ritter, Moscheen und Madrasabauten in Iran 1785-1848: Architektur zwischen Rückgriff und Neuerung [The Architecture of Mosque and Madrasa in Early Qajar Iran: between re-adaptation and innovation], Leiden and Boston: Brill 2006 (partially available on Academia)
  • Keelan Overton, Kimia Maleki, "The Emamzadeh Yahya at Varamin: A Present History of a Living Shrine, 2018–20", Journal of Material Cultures in the Muslim World, vol. 1, 1-2 (2021) (open source)
  • Assef Ashraf, Making and Remaking Empire in Early Qajar Iran, Cambridge Uni Press: 2024
  • Information and pictures of the Masjid-e Shah in Tehran, built by Fath 'Ali Shah (Archnet.org)
  • A set of six Coalport plates made for Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar, England, dated 1290 AH/ 1873-74, Sotheby's London 24 April 2024, lot 50
  • A large Canton bowl and dishes made for Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar, Persia, dated 1294 AH/ 1877, Sotheby's London 24 April 2024, lot 87

In this episode, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Nur Sobers-Khan, doctor in Islamic studies and curator of Islamic arts. Nur started working in curation immediately after getting her Ph.D. in 2012, and has since worked in several collections, looking at Islamic manuscripts, but also objects and archival material. Her various experiences constitute a great opportunity to learn more about the different layers of a curator role and the skills learned along the way. In the episode, she talks about the different institutions she has worked in, as well as her ongoing research on South-Asian manuscripts and the so-called Delhi collection of manuscripts in the British Library.

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Mentioned in the Episode and Further Links

• Follow the Art Informant on Instagram and X
• Follow Nur Sobers-Khan on Academia, X, Instagram and LinkedIn
  • Exhibitions:
    • Marvellous Creatures : Animal Fables in Islamic Art, exhibition catalogue from the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, 2015
    • 'Building Our Collection: Mughal and Safavid Albums' Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, 2015
    • Qajar Women: Images of Women in 19th-century Iran (Milan: Silvana Editoriale, 2016)
  • Doctoral research:
    • Slaves Without Shackles: Forced Labour and Manumission in the Galata Court Registers, 1560–1572 (Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 2014)
  • The "Delhi library" in the British Library:
    • “Muslim Scribal Culture in India Around 1800: Towards a Disentangling of the Mughal Library and Delhi Collection” in Scribal Practice and the Global Cultures of Colophons, 1400-1800 New Transculturalisms, ed. C.D. Bahl and S. Hanß (Switzerland, 2022)
• More information on the "Delhi Library":
  • Dr Saqib Baburi, "Sufism and Persian Manuscripts from the Delhi Collection, British Library", talk given at the British Library in 2018 (audio)
• "Learning Lessons from the Cyber-Attack", British Library cyber incident review,

In today’s episode, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Dr Suzanne Compagnon, post-doctoral fellow at the university of Utrecht. Suzanne recently got her Ph.D. from the University of Vienna with a thesis focused on Turkish Ottoman painting, and more specifically on the single-page figures produced by the painters Levni and Bukhari in the first quarter of the 18th century. Ottoman painting in general has not been studied as much as its Persian and Indian counterparts, and Suzanne dived into the topic with passion. In the episode, they talk about the career and work of these two painters, their sources of inspiration, powdered wigs, bonnets, and much more.

If you've liked this episode and want to support the Podcast, buy me a coffee!

Mentioned in the Episode and Further Links

• Follow the Art Informant on Instagram and X
• Follow Suzanne on Academia
• Read Suzanne's Ph.D. dissertation online (open access)
• Esin Atil, Levni and the Surname: the Story of an Eighteenth-Century Ottoman Festival, University of Washington Press, 2000.
  • Review of the book and reproductions of paintings on Istanbul traveloguewebsite (2014)
• Gwendolyn Collaço, "‘Word-Seizing’ Albums: Imported Paintings from ʿAcem and Hindūstān on an Eclectic Ottoman Market", Ars Orientalis, 51 (2021), pp. 133-187 (open access on Academia)
• Album Arabe 6076, Bibliotheque nationale de France (digitised)
• Album Arabe 6077, Bibliotheque nationale de France (digitised)
• Click here for more episodes of the ART Informant.

Click here to see the reproductions of artefacts discussed in the episode.