CALL FOR PAPERS
Transforming the Male Body: Etched and Engraved Arms, Armour and Personal Objects in Early Modern Europe

Friday 16 October 2015
Musée de l'Armée
(Auditorium Austerlitz - Hôtel National des Invalides, 129, rue de Grenelle, 75 007 Paris SP 07)

Organizers:
Juliette Allix (École du Louvre, Paris 1 Panthéon –Sorbonne)
Anne-Valérie Dulac (Université Paris 13)

Joint project between:
Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3 (PRISMES - EA 4398)
Reims Champagne-Ardenne University (CIRLEP – EA 4299)
Musée de l'Armée, Paris

In relation with the exhibition "Chevaliers et bombardes – D'Azincourt à Marignan 1415-1515" ("Knights and Bombards – From Agincourt to Marignano", 7 October 2015 – 24 January 2016, Musée de l'Armée).

Conference languages: English, French.

This conference is part of a project on Objects of Early Modern Literature (c. 1550 - 1660), funded by the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3 and run by members of the Épistémè research group. It will follow a conference on ornaments to be held at Reims University in September 2015.

This specific conference will focus on etched and engraved metal objects made in Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries, which, through their civil or military functions, were made to adorn the male body -- portable weapons, armour, buckles, watches, jewels, objects of devotion, boxes, snuffboxes, etc. Special attention will be given to the different etching and engraving techniques used to decorate these objects with scenes or symbols.

Participants will be invited to investigate the material dimension of these objects and their decorations by looking at the way they were created and used, to show how they transformed the male body physically, socially and symbolically.

We look for papers that will discuss the materiality of objects. Proposals dealing with what these objects represent or the way in which they are represented in art and literature are also welcome.

The conference invites contributions from all fields (history of art, history, material culture, literature, philosophy, visual culture etc.). Topics will include, but are not limited to:

- Decoration and manufacturing techniques
- Symbolic and social uses
- Significant and/or specific decoration motifs or iconographic representations
- Fashion and clothing
- Artistic and literary uses and representations (ekphrasis, stage properties, symbolical functions, etc.)
- Emblematic functions
- Diplomatic uses
- Extra-European circulation and reception

Please send a 300-word abstract (in English or in French) and a short biography or CV with a list of recent publications to the organisers, Juliette Allix (j-allix@hotmail.fr) and Anne-Valérie Dulac (anne-valerie.dulac@univ-paris13.fr) by 29th May 2015.