Visual Sources

Blair, Sheila; McCausland, Shane

Abstract

An integrated essay, co-authored with Sheila Blair, on visual sources for all the regions of the Mongol empire. This chapter provides an overview of the copious material production that occurred during the centuries when the Mongols dominated much of Asia. Co-authored, the essay offers a fully integrated study that focuses on common themes rather than regional differences. It begins by assessing the sources available for study in order to underscore some of the problems in using them. It then shows that the process of commodity and exchange across the Mongol domains resulted in a shared material culture and in the emergence of a new visual language marked by three features: an interest in perspective and the opening up of space, the cultivation of monumental size in which importance was demonstrated through scale, and a concern for allover surface patterning, often with raised, pierced, or multilevel carving.

Citation

Blair, S., & McCausland, S. (2023). Visual Sources. In M. Biran, & H. Kim (Eds.), Cambridge History of the Mongol Empire (1349-1398). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316337424.045

• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2023
• Deposit Date: Apr 17, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 27, 2024
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Pages: 1349-1398
• Book Title: Cambridge History of the Mongol Empire
• ISBN: 9781316337424
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316337424.045
• Keywords: Yuan, Ilkhanate, cloth-of-gold, printing, blue-and-white porcelains, Sufis, “Little Cities of God”, bughtaq, paiza, handscrolls, lusterware, women