"Looking at art can be intimidating for the untrained. Is this piece impressionist or surrealist? What, exactly, makes it worthy of hanging in a museum? "Ultimately, it's subjective," Lynette Roth, the Daimler Curator of the Busch-Reisinger Museum, told the Gazette in 2023. "I can't convince you to like something because I say, 'This is a major artist of the 20th century' - you might not be interested in that. But my experience has been that it will grow on you as you have more context.""
"Dating back to the 18th century, this wool carpet is adorned with a design inspired by gardens. Although many Persian rugs reference gardens through botanical ornament, this example presents a formal garden layout known as the chahar bagh (four-part garden). Such gardens, planted with fruit trees and separated by axial water channels, were an important part of the palatial and urban complexes of the Islamic era in Iran, Central Asia, and later in India."
Curators and conservators examine microscopic and material details of artworks to reveal historical, technical, and cultural narratives concealed in surfaces and small motifs. Scientific imaging and close visual inspection uncover underdrawings, painterly corrections, and workshop practices that illuminate creative processes. Fragmentary wall paintings provide evidence of ancient pigments and application sequences that reconstruct original compositions. Study of an 18th-century Persian chahar bagh carpet reveals formal garden symbolism and an asymmetrically placed tiny animal likely serving as a weaver's token. Conservation stabilizes fragile objects while interpreting makers' choices, enabling renewed public access and deeper informed appreciation across diverse collections.
Read at Harvard Gazette
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