Annissa Malvoisin
Postdoctoral Fellow in the Arts of Africa, Bard Graduate Center/Brooklyn Museum

Through the Sahara, Across the Red Sea: Trade Networks of Meroitic Fineware and Their Impact on Modern Museum Collections  

Somewhere between 200 BCE and 900 CE, a hole formed in the archaeological record connecting Northeast and West Africa. This hole is permeated by an enduring disconnect between the study of the cultural relationship between early medieval Nile Valley civilizations and Iron Age West African cultures just prior to the active transcontinental networks established through the Silk Road. Malvoisin’s doctoral thesis studies the historical-cultural contexts of inter-regional connections between Nubia, Egypt, Sahelian cultures, and the regional cultures of Nigeria and Mali through the reassessment of the iconographical and decorative representations on Meroitic Nubian ceramics, termed “fineware” and named after the capital city of Meroe, in museum collections between 200 BCE and 400 CE. Decorative similarities between regions are apparent. Relevant sites that date to the eighth through nineteenth centuries are mentioned to exemplify continuity and change over time and across geographical areas. Malvoisin suggests that Nubia’s trade industry had a direct influence on the way that fineware, considered the pinnacle of Nubian artistry and coveted for collections due to their high-level aesthetic quality, are studied and displayed in museums.

Thursday, November 11, 12:15 pm