Lecture en Q&A: Malay Silver and Gold- from Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and Beyond: Time for a Reappraisal
The KVVAK cordially invites you to a lecture by Michael Backman in the auditorium of the Rijksmuseum on Saturday afternoon, 9 November.
The presentation by Michael Backman coincides with the publication of his 300-page Malay Silver and Gold: Courtly Splendour from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Brunei, the first book on this topic in more than 100 years. The presentation will explain who the Malays are; will provide an overview of the types of silver and gold items they produced; will reveal for the first time, types of goldware produced by the Malays that hitherto were believed to have been made by goldsmiths in Europe; and it will address the impact and the distortions of 19th century collecting on the output of the Malay smiths.
Michael Backman is an art historian, economist, writer & gallerist. He is the author of nine books that cover all aspects of Asia – from culture to politics & business, including the just-published Malay Silver and Gold: Courtly Splendour from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Brunei, a political biography of a Malaysian politician, and Asian Eclipse, named by The Economist as one of its books of the year, and which was nominated by the then Thai prime minister as a book that ‘all Thais should read’. He has had regular newspaper columns in Australia and Singapore, and is the founder of an eponymous Asian antiques gallery in central London which has sold to more than 40 museums worldwide. He has lived and worked in Australia, France, Indonesia and now lives permanently in London.
programme
- 14.00 hrs. Lecture by Michael Backman, with Q&A.
- 15:00 hrs. Tea-break with booksale in the foyer
- 15.15 hrs. An accompanying lecture: tba.
- 16.15 hrs. end