Join us for a joint talk by Welbeck’s Curatorial Researchers, Kelly Moore and Megan Dudley. Focusing on the Indian miniatures and Chinese watercolours in our temporary display, they will explore questions of identity, nature and colonialism.
Learn the stories of the Indian women depicted in a set of miniatures, what role they played in the Mughal Empire and why they may have been painted for a British audience. Megan will focus particularly on Zeenat Mahal, the final Mughal empress, and explain how she may well be the key to understanding the set of portrait miniatures as a whole.
Kelly will discuss the 18th century Chinese watercolours, illuminating their depiction of ceramic production. Part of the Duchess of Portland’s collection, they explore the nuanced relationship between natural resources and their commodification, as well as raising interesting questions of colonialism and empire.
Megan Dudley
Megan Dudley is an MA student of English Literature at the University of Sheffield on a work placement as a Curatorial Researcher at Welbeck. She previously completed a bachelor’s degree in English Literature, also at the University of Sheffield. Megan’s favourite era of literature is the early modern period, and she intends to write her MA thesis on gender in early modern drama. She enjoys researching, especially bringing fine details and nuances into focus to show how they impact the broader picture of a topic. Megan is from Chesterfield in Derbyshire.
Kelly Rosalyn Moore
Kelly Rosalyn Moore is an MA student at the University of Sheffield, currently working as a Curatorial Researcher with the Welbeck Estate. Though she studies English Literature, the art world has always intrigued Kelly, especially the intertextual relationship between art and literature. Awarded the Ragdoll Scholarship, she is recognised for her strong academic research skills. When she isn’t writing essays on Shakespeare or feminism, which is almost always, she enjoys travelling to cultural epicentres like Florence, Paris, and Venice.
