Provenance is the history of ownership of an artwork, in the ideal case from the time of its discovery or creation to the present. In a wider sense provenance research also reflects on the historical, social and economic contexts which led to the acquisition of an object. Thus it mirrors the changing priorities and values of the art collector and the market.  

So far, this field of research has focussed mainly on Western art and Nazi-Era provenances or, in the colonial context, on regions of the world excluding South Asia. This is all the more astonishing as the collection history of South Asian art and artefacts in the West is quite old and dates back to the Kunst- und Wunderkammer of the Renaissance. With the earliest museum of South Asia in Kolkata from 1814, modelled on the basis of the British Museum,  nevertheless, the colonial collection history on the subcontinent is impressive, too. 

Therefore, this panel aims at fostering knowledge and exchange on provenance related topics on South Asian art and artefacts. It encompasses any contexts, ranging from pre-colonial to colonial and Nazi-Era provenances and is open to researchers and museum professionals from all over the world and from ethnographic and art museums alike.  

Submissions are invited on topics including, but not limited to:

• Biographies of selected collectors or dealers
• Case studies, e.g. of a certain museum collection
• Object biographies 
• Collection and exhibition history
• Research methods 
• How to deal with “orphan objects” (works, for which details may never be found)
• Do gaps in provenance necessarily indicate theft or looting?
• How do claims made against an artwork influence research on it?

Please send your application until 30 July 2019 to the panel organiser and chair Dr. des. Regina Hoefer, [email protected]: 

• Paper abstract max. 250 words 
• CV max. 100 words, plus your status and affiliation (e.g. PhD candidate, University of Leeds), contact information (address, telephone number, email) on one page

Papers should be of 20 minutes in length maximum. The publication of accepted papers in a peer-reviewed journal is anticipated.