Abstract

The Mongol invasion in the thirteenth century marked a new phase in the development of Islamic art. Trans-Eurasian exchanges of goods, people and ideas were encouraged on a large scale under the auspices of the Pax Mongolica. With the fascination of portable objects brought from East Asia, a distinctive cultural taste was born and articulated in the art of the Middle East, particularly modern-day Iran. This illustrated lecture offers a fascinating glimpse into the artistic interaction between the Middle East and East Asia under the Mongols. By using rich visual materials from various media of decorative and pictorial arts - textiles, ceramics, metalwork and manuscript painting - the lecture looks at the process of adoption and adaptation of East Asian themes in the art of the Mongol-ruled Islamic world. The observation of this unique artistic phenomenon serves to promote the understanding of the artistic diversity of Islamic art in the Middle Ages.

Biography

Yuka Kadoi is an art historian, who received a Ph.D. in Islamic art history from the University of Edinburgh in 2005, and has worked internationally at various educational and cultural institutions in Europe, the USA and the Middle East as a lecturer, a curator, as well as a research consultant. She is currently a visiting professor of Islamic art and architecture at the Lebanese American University in Beirut. She specializes in the cross-cultural exchanges of objects, images and ideas in pre-modern Islamic Eurasia and has written or edited numerous books and articles, including Islamic Chinoiserie: The Art of Mongol Iran (2009); The Shaping of Persian Art (2013); and Arthur Upham Pope and A New Survey of Persian Art (forthcoming 2016).

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