Conventual Possessions in the Iberian World: Inventories in comparative perspective

This session explores a series of inventories of conventual possessions created in preparation for the suppression of religious orders in the city-ports of Havana and Old Goa between 1767 and 1840. I will compare these inventories with others created elsewhere in the Iberian World. Our knowledge of the material worlds –including but not limited to art collections, books, manuscripts, among other objects – that populated the buildings which belonged to monastic orders in Cuba and Goa is poor. A comparative analysis of the inventories and extant collections offer a glimpse into the artistic and material objects that were accrued by religious orders over centuries in these locales. Thus this lecture, though a series of focused analyses, will examine the inventories and surviving objects through the lens of the theory of things and interrogate the local, regional and transregional artistic circulations.