Welcome to Saturday University, a monthly lecture series featuring experts from around the world. Gain new insights on Asia throughout time as our visiting scholars, authors, artists, and thought leaders delve into new themes each season.
Magic, Materiality, and Miniatures in First Millennium BCE West Asia
Miriam Said
Between the 9th and 7th centuries BCE, the state of Assyria was a hegemonic power in ancient West Asia, procuring an immense amount of material wealth through booty and tribute. Neo-Assyrian kings used these riches to build their palaces—decorated with their famed wall sculptures—and temples at the capital cities of Nimrud, Khorsabad, and Nineveh. At the same time, there was a flourishing tradition of small, portable artworks like figurines, jewelry, and ornaments that were created as a means of protecting oneself from the unknown and malevolent as well as invest users and makers of said objects with power. This talk is an exploration of these items, the superhuman subjects they were meant to attract or deflect, and the role of such miniatures against the backdrop and monumentality of political and cultural imperialism.
Miriam Said is an Assistant Professor of Art History and Architecture at Tufts University. She specializes in the art and architecture of the ancient Near East and Mediterranean world in the first millennium BCE. She is interested in materiality studies, technologies of magic, gender, and the intersection of pop culture and antiquity. In addition to her research and teaching, Said has previously worked in curatorial and museum education departments at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and The Walters Art Museum.
This talk will be presented at SAM's downtown location at 1300 First Avenue and not, as usual, at the Seattle Asian Art Museum.