Matthew Canepa
Matthew Canepa (Ph.D. University of Chicago) is an historian of the art and archaeology of the ancient Iranian world, broadly conceived. His most recent book, and winner of the 2020 James R. Wiseman award from the Archaeological Institute of America, is: The Iranian Expanse (UC Press, 2018), which explores the transformation of Iranian identity through the natural and built environments. Previous publications include: Theorizing Cross-Cultural Interaction (Washington D.C. 2010) and The Two Eyes of the Earth: Art and Ritual of Kingship between Rome and Sasanian Iran (Berkeley 2009 [2010]), which was awarded the 2010 James Henry Breasted Prize from the American Historical Association for best book in any field of history prior to 1000 CE.
Address: University of California, Irvine
Department of Art History
2000 Humanities Gateway
Irvine, CA 92697-2785
Address: University of California, Irvine
Department of Art History
2000 Humanities Gateway
Irvine, CA 92697-2785
less
Related Authors
InterestsView All (65)
Uploads
Books by Matthew Canepa
With the rise of the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE), Persian institutions of kingship became the model for legitimacy, authority, and prestige across three continents. Despite enormous upheavals, Iranian visual and political cultures connected an ever-wider swath of Afro-Eurasia over the next two millennia, exerting influence at key historical junctures. This book provides the first critical exploration of the role Persian cultures played in articulating the myriad ways power was expressed across Afro-Eurasia between the sixth century BCE and the nineteenth century CE.
Exploring topics such as royal cosmologies, fashion, banqueting, manuscript cultures, sacred landscapes, and inscriptions, the volume’s essays analyze the intellectual and political exchanges of art, architecture, ritual, and luxury material within and beyond the Persian world. They show how Perso-Iranian cultures offered neighbors and competitors raw material with which to formulate their own imperial aspirations. Unique among studies of Persia and Iran, this volume explores issues of change, renovation, and interconnectivity in these cultures over the longue durée.
https://shop.getty.edu/products/persian-cultures-of-power-and-the-entanglement-of-the-afro-eurasian-world-978-1606068427?variant=43667352355008
http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520257276
http://books.google.com/books?id=57szORf0_B0C&lpg=PP1&dq=the%20two%20eyes%20of%20the%20earth&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false
The organizing goal of this volume is to highlight these theoretical considerations and provide a forum where art historians of the ancient and medieval worlds can explore these problems of cross-cultural interaction with greater rigor. It does not intend to provide a comprehensive theoretical overview or art historical survey of Eurasian artistic interchange, nor an overarching theory. Rather, it aims to contribute critical perspectives drawn from premodern visual cultures to the wider theoretical conversation. The papers contained herein critically evaluate some of the most important problems encountered in the material: the cross-continental movement and selective appropriation of objects and motifs through trade; the impact of new ways of seeing, being seen, and acting introduced by these objects; the role of art and ritual in negotiations of power among empires; and representations and self-portrayals of ethnicity and gender within and beyond dominant visual cultures.
To order: http://www.asia.si.edu/visitor/arsorientalisVolumeOrder.htm
Papers by Matthew Canepa
Canepa, Matthew P. “Parthian Silver.” Essay for the exhibition catalogue Persia: Iran and the Classical World. Eds. J. Spier, T. Potts, and S. Cole. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2022.
Canepa, Matthew P. “Parthian Rhyta from the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection.” Essay for the exhibition catalogue Persia: Iran and the Classical World. Eds. J. Spier, T. Potts, and S. Cole. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2022.
Canepa, Matthew P. “Cat. 107: Bowl with an Anchor and a Dolphin.” Entry for the exhibition catalogue Persia: Iran and the Classical World. Eds. J. Spier, T. Potts, and S. Cole. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2022.
Canepa, Matthew P. “Cat. 108: Rhyton in the Form of a Lynx.” (86.AM.752.1) Entry for the exhibition catalogue Persia: Iran and the Classical World. Eds. J. Spier, T. Potts, and S. Cole. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2022.
Canepa, Matthew P. “Cat. 109: Rhyton in the Form of a Lynx.” (86.AM.752.2) Entry for the exhibition catalogue Persia: Iran and the Classical World. Eds. J. Spier, T. Potts, and S. Cole. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2022.
Canepa, Matthew P. “Cat. 110: Rhyton in the Form of a Lion.” Entry for the exhibition catalogue Persia: Iran and the Classical World. Eds. J. Spier, T. Potts, and S. Cole. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2022.
Canepa, Matthew P. “Cat. 111: Rhyton in the Form of a Stag.” Entry for the exhibition catalogue Persia: Iran and the Classical World. Eds. J. Spier, T. Potts, and S. Cole. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2022.
provide the most abundant evidence, and what we can descry about the region’s and the dynasty’s earlier traditions from the archaeological record and fragmentary textual sources.
With the rise of the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE), Persian institutions of kingship became the model for legitimacy, authority, and prestige across three continents. Despite enormous upheavals, Iranian visual and political cultures connected an ever-wider swath of Afro-Eurasia over the next two millennia, exerting influence at key historical junctures. This book provides the first critical exploration of the role Persian cultures played in articulating the myriad ways power was expressed across Afro-Eurasia between the sixth century BCE and the nineteenth century CE.
Exploring topics such as royal cosmologies, fashion, banqueting, manuscript cultures, sacred landscapes, and inscriptions, the volume’s essays analyze the intellectual and political exchanges of art, architecture, ritual, and luxury material within and beyond the Persian world. They show how Perso-Iranian cultures offered neighbors and competitors raw material with which to formulate their own imperial aspirations. Unique among studies of Persia and Iran, this volume explores issues of change, renovation, and interconnectivity in these cultures over the longue durée.
https://shop.getty.edu/products/persian-cultures-of-power-and-the-entanglement-of-the-afro-eurasian-world-978-1606068427?variant=43667352355008
http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520257276
http://books.google.com/books?id=57szORf0_B0C&lpg=PP1&dq=the%20two%20eyes%20of%20the%20earth&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false
The organizing goal of this volume is to highlight these theoretical considerations and provide a forum where art historians of the ancient and medieval worlds can explore these problems of cross-cultural interaction with greater rigor. It does not intend to provide a comprehensive theoretical overview or art historical survey of Eurasian artistic interchange, nor an overarching theory. Rather, it aims to contribute critical perspectives drawn from premodern visual cultures to the wider theoretical conversation. The papers contained herein critically evaluate some of the most important problems encountered in the material: the cross-continental movement and selective appropriation of objects and motifs through trade; the impact of new ways of seeing, being seen, and acting introduced by these objects; the role of art and ritual in negotiations of power among empires; and representations and self-portrayals of ethnicity and gender within and beyond dominant visual cultures.
To order: http://www.asia.si.edu/visitor/arsorientalisVolumeOrder.htm
Canepa, Matthew P. “Parthian Silver.” Essay for the exhibition catalogue Persia: Iran and the Classical World. Eds. J. Spier, T. Potts, and S. Cole. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2022.
Canepa, Matthew P. “Parthian Rhyta from the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection.” Essay for the exhibition catalogue Persia: Iran and the Classical World. Eds. J. Spier, T. Potts, and S. Cole. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2022.
Canepa, Matthew P. “Cat. 107: Bowl with an Anchor and a Dolphin.” Entry for the exhibition catalogue Persia: Iran and the Classical World. Eds. J. Spier, T. Potts, and S. Cole. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2022.
Canepa, Matthew P. “Cat. 108: Rhyton in the Form of a Lynx.” (86.AM.752.1) Entry for the exhibition catalogue Persia: Iran and the Classical World. Eds. J. Spier, T. Potts, and S. Cole. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2022.
Canepa, Matthew P. “Cat. 109: Rhyton in the Form of a Lynx.” (86.AM.752.2) Entry for the exhibition catalogue Persia: Iran and the Classical World. Eds. J. Spier, T. Potts, and S. Cole. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2022.
Canepa, Matthew P. “Cat. 110: Rhyton in the Form of a Lion.” Entry for the exhibition catalogue Persia: Iran and the Classical World. Eds. J. Spier, T. Potts, and S. Cole. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2022.
Canepa, Matthew P. “Cat. 111: Rhyton in the Form of a Stag.” Entry for the exhibition catalogue Persia: Iran and the Classical World. Eds. J. Spier, T. Potts, and S. Cole. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2022.
provide the most abundant evidence, and what we can descry about the region’s and the dynasty’s earlier traditions from the archaeological record and fragmentary textual sources.