Additional information
by Katherine Anne Paul (Author), Tushara Bindu Gude (Contribution by), Kimberly Masteller (Contribution by)
A dazzling testament to Southern Asian silver's role in the transformation and consumption of once rarified goods to those taken for granted daily around the world.
Silver elevates use, not only for the diverse religious rituals of Southern Asia, but also consumption of and access to then-new items: photographs, colored prints, mirrors, railways, and automobiles; newly invented or trans-planted foods including teas and coffees, Indian pale ale, punch, antipodean wines, milk products, relishes, mustards, fruits, and specialty seasonings (like pepper, salt, and sugar). Many of these items originated in Southern Asia and were among the first tinned or bottled items to circulate in global markets. Five scholarly essays and two interviews discuss the artistry and functionality of Southern Asian silver. A spectacular array of 130 suites of silver and twenty-two design drawings, devotedly collected by Mr. Harish K. Patel, showcases Southern Asia's cultural and economic soft power through silver.
Author Biography
Tushara Bindu Gude received her Ph.D. in art history from the University of California, Los Angeles, and served as associate curator of South and Southeast Asian Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).
Kimberly Masteller is the Jeanne McCray Beals Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
Veronica (Ronnie) J. McDavid has been collecting Indian and Colonial silver since 2007.
Harish K. Patel, originally from Gujarat, India, has been collecting Indian classical art since 1988 and began collecting silver from India in September 2009.
Katherine Anne Paul is the lead curator and Virginia and William M. Spencer III Curator of Asian Art at the Birmingham Museum of Art.
Richard A. Pegg is the director and curator of Asian Art for the MacLean Collection.
Romita Ray is associate professor of Art History at Syracuse University.
Praveena Sundarraj is the founder of Dryft Coffee and Raani Coffee, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.
Laura C. Woodard, librarian and archivist, has been at the Birmingham Museum of Art since 2018.
