Commodity and Exchange in the Mongol Empire
A Cultural History of Islamic Textiles
Description:... In the thirteenth century the Mongols created a vast, transcontinental empire that intensified commercial and cultural contact throughout Eurasia. One aspect of this exchange, little studied to date, was the extensive traffic in human talent; from the outset of their expansion, the Mongols systematically identified and mobilized artisans of diverse backgrounds and frequently transported them from one cultural zone of the empire to another. Prominent among those transported were Muslim textile workers, resettled in China, were they made sumptuous robes and other garments for the imperial court. [...] Thomas Allsen investigates the significance of cloth and color in the political cultures of Islam, Iran, the steppe peoples in China, thereby illuminating the cultural dynamics which condition the act of borrowing. His conclusion places the transmission of Muslim textiles and clothing culture to China within the broader context of the history of the Silk Road, the primary link in East-West cultural communication during the pre-modern era. The book promises, therfore, to be of interest not only to students of Middle Eastern and Asian history, but also to geographers, anthropologists, art historians and textile specialists.
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