The Studenica Silk (ca. 1400): Object and Interpretation, lecture by Dr. Amanda Phillip (University of Virginia), Zoom, March 29, 2023, 7:00 pm (Istanbul)

Among the treasures in the monastery of Studenica in Serbia is a large silk hanging, woven for the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I (r. 1389-1402). It is the earliest known Ottoman textile, and is among the earliest works of Ottoman art of any sort. Although it is very well preserved, its initial production remains mysterious, as do its trajectories in the fifteenth century and later. This talk combines an overview of the silk's historical context with a discussion of technology and material, and makes a brief foray into its later life in Studenica and elsewhere.

Amanda Philips is Associate Professor of Islamic Art and Material Culture at the University of Virginia.

This lecture is jointly sponsored by the American Research Institute in Turkey and the American Institute for Southeast European Studies.