Isabelle Imbert welcomes Dr Corinne Muehlemann, Assistant Professor and Chair of the History of Textile Arts at the Institute of Art History in the University of Bern. Corinne is one of the rare specialists of silks produced during the Middle-Ages in the Islamic lands, especially in Iran and Spain. In the episode, she talks about striped silks prod…

In this episode, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Vincent Thérouin, PhD candidate in Islamic archaeology in the university of Paris Sorbonne. Vincent works on a little-known topic: Ottoman Bosnia between the 15th and 17th centuries, and more particularly on the urbanisation of the region and the development of cities such as Sarajevo. In the episode, he ta…

In today’s episode, we are getting the behind the scenes of an auction house opening with Beatrice Campi and Tomas Jose Aznar Gonzales, founders and directors of Aznar auction, a brand new auction house opened in 2024 and dedicated to Arts of the World, Luxury and Lifestyle, as well as Wines and Spirits. Beatrice is specialised in Indian and Islami…

Isabelle Imbert welcomes Dr Richard McClary, Senior lecturer in Islamic art history at the University of York. Throughout his career, Richard has published extensively on artistic and architectural productions across the Islamic world. In July 2024, his latest monograph was published at Edinburgh university press, titled “Mina’i Ware: A Reassessmen…

Isabelle Imbert welcomes Fuchsia Hart, Sarikhani Curator for the Iranian Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Fuchsia is an art historian specialised in the artistic productions of 19th century Iran, ruled by the Qajar dynasty between 1789 and 1925, and particularly on the reign of Fath 'Ali Shah Qajar, who reigned from 1797 till…

In this episode, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Nur Sobers-Khan, doctor in Islamic studies and curator of Islamic arts. Nur started working in curation immediately after getting her Ph.D. in 2012, and has since worked in several collections, looking at Islamic manuscripts, but also objects and archival material. Her various experiences constitute a great…

In today’s episode, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Dr Suzanne Compagnon, post-doctoral fellow at the university of Utrecht. Suzanne recently got her Ph.D. from the University of Vienna with a thesis focused on Turkish Ottoman painting, and more specifically on the single-page figures produced by the painters Levni and Bukhari in the first quarter of the …

Isabelle Imbert welcomes Pr Stephane Pradines, Professor of Islamic Art, Architecture and Archaeology at the Aga Khan University in London. Stephanes is an archaeologist with a particular expertise on Sub-Saharan Africa, a large region that is being discussed for the first time on this podcast, and for today the Swahili coast in the East. In the ep…

For the 2 years anniversary of the ART Informant podcast, I welcome... myself. A very special host comes in to ask me questions about my newly released children's book, La Tortue et les Deux Canards, et autres fables de La Fontaine de source arabe, published at Versant Sud Jeunesse. We also talk about the podcast, of course, how and why it started,…

In today’s episode, we take a step aside from Islamic & Indian art history to welcome Alexander Herman, director of the Institute of Art & Law in London. Alexander is specialised in the complex legislation of art and cultural heritage, and has recently published The Parthenon Marble dispute: Heritage, Law, Politics (Bloomsbury). In the episode, he …

For the 30th episode of the ART Informant, Isabelle Imbert travels to mediaeval Spain with Dr Mariam Rosser-Owen, curator of the Middle Eastern Section in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Al-Andalus, Muslim Spain and Portugal, is particularly recognised for its rich production of carved ivory objects and its architecture, which Mariam and Isabelle t…

In this episode of the ART Informant, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Dr Amanda Phillips, Associate Professor of Islamic Art and Material Culture at the University of Virginia. Amanda specialises in the consumption and trade of textiles in Ottoman Türkiye. It is the topic of her latest book: Sea Change: Ottoman Textiles between the Mediterranean and the I…

In the episode, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Bharti Lalwani, art critic and perfume maker, and Dr Nicolas Roth, visual librarian at Harvard University Library, gardener and historian of horticultural knowledge and practices in India. Bharti and Nicolas have collaborated on an online exhibition: Bagh-e Hind, the Garden of India, a unique project combini…

In today’s episode, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Hiba Abid, doctor in Islamic Arts History and curator for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies in the New York Public Library. Isabelle and Hiba have known each other for a long time, so it was time to catch up on the topics that passionate Hiba, in particular the history of manuscripts production in the M…

Isabelle Imbert welcomes Valentina Bruccoleri, doctor in Chinese art history and postdoctoral researcher of the Marco Polo Centre for Global Europe-Asia Connections at the university of Venice. Valentina is a specialist of Chinese ceramic, and more precisely, she specialises in the artistic interactions between the Persian dynasties of the Timurid …

Isabelle Imbert welcomes Dr Eleonore Cellard, researcher in early Qur'anic manuscripts and specialist in codicology and palaeography. She holds a Ph.D. from the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris and have been working ever since on uncovering the secrets of the oldest Quranic manuscripts. In the episode, they talk about when and how the Qur’…

Isabelle Imbert welcomes Daniel Newman, professor at Durham University, specialist of Arabic language and literature and passionate about Medieval Arabic cooking books and culinary tradition. For years, Daniel has been recreated Medieval recipes, especially from the "Garden flowers in elegant food" (Zahr al-ḥadīqa fi ‘l-aṭʿima al-anīqa), written by…

In the first episode of 2023, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Dr Sterenn Le Maguer, archaeologist and specialist of the history of incense trade in the Islamic world before the 16th century. Sterenn is what we could call an archaeologist of smells, but she’s also the first archaeologist to come on the podcast, so in the episode, we talk about methodology …

In the last episode of 2022, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Nilosree Biswas, Indian filmmaker and writer, author of Banaras: Of Gods, Humans and Stories and Alluring Kashmir: The Inner Spirit, as well as her latest book, Calcutta on your plate. Nilos grew up in Calcutta and has an intimate knowledge of its culinary cuisine, but through her book, she writ…

This episode is part 2 of the interview with Dr Rachel Parikh, doctor in Islamic and Indian art history and curator specialised in arms and armours. In Part 1, her and the host, Dr Isabelle Imbert talked about her career as an art historian, her research on the Falnama manuscript in the Khalili collection, and her shift to curating. In this episode…

In this episode, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Dr Rachel Parikh, doctor in Islamic and Indian art history and curator specialised in arms and armours. Rachel and Isabelle started talking and didn’t see the time go by, ending up with a very long episode. After a vote on Instagram, it was decided that the episode would be divided in two, Part 1 focusing o…

In this episode, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Dr Esra Alhamal, doctor in design and visual artist specialised in Islamic illumination. Esra has been researching and creating biomorphic patterns for many years, as well as teaching the art of illumination in London and creating her own paint with natural pigment from a Medieval recipe. In the episode, we…

In today’s episode, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Dr Firuza Melville, director of research of Cambridge Shahnama centre for Persian Studies and eminent specialist of the Persian poet Firdausi (c. 933-1020) and his Shahnama, the book of kings telling the epic history of Iran before Islam. The text was illustrated many times, including under the reign of …

Isabelle Imbert welcomes Dr Melanie Gibson, Art Historian specialised in Islamic ceramics, editor of the art history series at Ginkgo library, and board member and scientific advisor of the Leighton House in London. Melanie has been involved in teaching, research and edition for many years and has a wealth of experience to share. She has also parti…

For the first episode of Season 2, Dr Isabelle Imbert welcomes Dr Mehreen Chida-Razvi, in-house editor and deputy curator in the Khalili collection of Islamic Arts, and specialist of Mughal architecture. The Mughal empire reigns between 1526 and 1857 on a territory that encompass, at its peak, modern India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, parts of Afghanista…

In the last episode of the first season of the ART Informant, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Patricia Blessing, Assistant Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture. Patricia specialises in the history of architecture in medieval Turkey. She published her first book in 2014, titled Rebuilding Anatolia after the Mongol Conquest: Islamic Architecture in the…

In today’s episode, Isabelle Imbert takes a small step aside from what is generally considered as Islamic art to welcome Davinder Toor, published art collector specialised in the artistic productions of the Sikh, a religion born in the hills of Punjab in India in the 16th century, and practised today around the world. Davinder first took an interes…

In this episode of the ART Informant, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Rim Mezghani, expert in Islamic and Indian art and founder of the newly created Parisian auction house, Rim Encheres. Rim has worked for the most prestigious galleries and auction houses, but also has an unconventional background that has helped her become a unique brand on the art mark…

In the 12th episode of the ART Informant, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Nicoletta Fazio, Curator of Iranian Lands in the Museum of Islamic Art of Doha, Qatar. Since she joined the museum in 2018, she and the team have been working on the relaunch of the galleries, scheduled for the end of this year. Before moving to Doha, Nicoletta spent several years w…

In the 11th episode of the ART Informant, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Beatrice Campi, Head of Islamic and Indian art at Chiswick auction, London. Isabelle was quite ill with the flu but was able to host an insightful exchange on many important topics, such as the impact of Brexit on London’s art market and what NFTs could mean for our field. We also d…

In the 10th episode of the ART Informant, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Annie Vernay-Nouri, previously curator of Arabic manuscripts in the Bibliotheque nationale de France, and Aida El Khiari, doctoral student in the Sorbonne University, under supervision of Pr Eloise Brac de la Perriere, who unfortunately could not be present. Since 2012, they have be…

In the 9th episode of the ART Informant, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Alice Bailey, Head of the Islamic and Indian Arts department, at Rosebery’s auction. Together, they discuss London Islamic week, to which Alice has been actively contributing for more than a decade. This year, Rosebery’s will close the event on the 1st April with a large catalogue fu…

In the 8th episode of the ART Informant, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Nuria Garcia Masip, professional calligrapher specialised in classical Ottoman Turkish scripts, in particular thuluth and naskh. Nuria has been trained by the greatest living calligraphers in Washington and Istanbul, and has been sharing her art and incredible artistry since she got …

The Museum of Islamische Kunst in Berlin is getting ready to undergo its biggest transformation since its foundation, with a brand-new permanent exhibition due to open in 2026. In this episode of the ART Informant, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Dr Deniz Erduman-Çalış, curator of Islamic arts, to talk about the new permanent exhibition of Islamic arts, t…

In this episode of the ART Informant, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Dorina Michaelis, art historian and long time associate of the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin. They discuss Dorina's background and current research on Pakistani ceramics, especially architectural decors produced in Multan. From their making to their arrival in European collections, th…

How to show the interdiction of depicting the creation, known as iconoclasm? In this episode of the ART Informant, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Axel Langer, curator of Eastern art at the Museum Rietberg in Zürich. His upcoming exhibition, titled In the Name of the Image: Imagery between Cult and Prohibition in Islam and Christianity, tackles the differ…

From learning to share to decade long friendship, this is the story of the 4th episode of the ART Informant, in which Isabelle Imbert welcomes Negar Habibi, lecturer in Iranian art history at the University of Geneva. During the episode, Dr Habibi discusses her journey from Tehran, to Aix-en-Provence, to the Museum of Art History of Geneva, where s…

Cow's urine, glitter and nanogels. In this episode, Isabelle Imbert welcomes Amelie Couvrat-Desvergnes, independent conservator of Islamic and Indian manuscripts and paintings, to discuss the progress of paper preservation techniques, the most difficult types of paper to conserve, and the do and don't of at-home conservation. Mentioned in the Episo…

What does the career of an Islamic and Indian arts expert look like? How do we get to it? Also, what should you buy in the upcoming auction of Millon et Associés? In the second episode of the Art Informant, Isabelle Imbert sits with Anne-Sophie Joncoux-Pilorget, head of the Oriental Art and Orientalism department of the Parisian auction house Millo…

This is it, the first episode of the Art Informant! Isabelle Imbert sits with Camille Célier, Islamic and Indian arts expert at Ader Nordman, and Romain Pingannaud, founder of Pingannaud-David expertise, to discuss the passing of Marie-Christine David, her legacy and the upcoming auction of her collection. Also, what do experts do with fakes? And w…

A space for lovers, actors and welcomers to Islamic and Indian arts, to explore the actuality of the art market, exhibition and research. Every episode, join Isabelle Imbert as the Art Informant in conversations with specialists of the Islamic and Indian art history and art market.By Isabelle Imbert