POLITICS AND POETRY | Floral Designs in the Decorative Arts And Textiles of the East and West with Susan Scollay

Using examples of works from The Johnston Collection, this lecture will explore traditional Eastern garden culture as a political tool, but also as an inspiration for the evolution of the decorative arts both in the East and West.

SUSAN SCOLLAY is an independent art historian and curator specialising in Islamic art and culture and in historic textiles. She is a contributing editor to HALI, the prestigious, London-based journal of carpet, textile and Islamic art. She was guest curator of Fluid Borders: Ways of Seeing Oriental Rugs held at The Johnston Collection in 2010. Her recent curated exhibition, Love and Devotion: From Persia and Beyond was shown at the State Library of Victoria and the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, in 2012-13. In 2013 she was elected in London as a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society.

English School, from a portrait pair (unknown lady), 19th century, The Johnston Collection (A0907-1989)