Elaborate and sensational gifts were the hallmark of Mamluk diplomacy. In firm control of the medieval spice trade as well as the holy sites of Christianity and Islam, the Sultanate's capital at Cairo became a diplomatic crossroads in the medieval world and the seat of a new Islamic caliphate. Already victorious over both the Crusaders and the Mongols, their military success and lavish religious patronage were not enough to ensure the dynasty's prestige: the Mamluk Sultans were often reminded of their slave origins, impugned by rivals as 'pagans' recruited to faith and service by purchase. In response, the sultans staged brilliant performances in Cairo and dispatched carefully designed diplomatic gifts all over the medieval world. These marvellous displays were the crowning ornament of Mamluk legitimacy, celebrated from Europe to the Far East. Drawing on extensive primary sources and fieldwork in museums across the world, Doris Behrens-Abouseif is the first to treat this important subject in depth and here reveals an unexplored aspect of Middle Eastern material culture. Composed of spectacular elements such as spices, exotic animals, Chinese porcelain, ceremonial textiles and military and equestrian objects - not to mention humans, either living or as severed heads - the regal offering varied in combination and emphasis according to the status and circumstances of giver and receiver, but always created a sensation. Acknowledging the established historical precedents of diplomacy and regal gift-giving, the author examines the nuance of cultural and political realities in period diplomacy as well as the transmission of encrypted messages, illuminating the subtle conveyance of self-representation and identity in medieval Cairo and the world beyond. With ground-breaking new research, this book - richly illustrated in colour - provides a comprehensive view of the art and politics of the Mamluk diplomatic gift, by which these sultans of humble origins created a magnificent image of themselves in the courts of their Muslim rivals and allies worldwide. It will prove essential reading for both students and scholars.

Elaborate and sensational gifts were the hallmark of Mamluk diplomacy. From Cairo, where they controlled the medieval spice trade and the holy sites of Christianity and Islam, the Mamluk Sultans-conscious of their humble slave origins-augmented their claims to legitimacy through brilliant displays of diplomatic gift-giving, creating a celebrated reputation for the Sultanate from Europe to the Far East. From spices, ceremonial textiles, and military objects, to elephants and giraffes, and even humans-either living or as severed heads. The offerings varied in combination and emphasis according to the status and circumstances of giver and receiver, but always created a sensation. Through an unparalleled study of primary sources and rigorous fieldwork, this original book-richly illustrated in colour-explores the unpredictable and nuanced art of the regal gift in the Mamluk Sultanate from 1250-1517. Doris Behrens-Abouseif not only provides the first study of this subject, but makes an important contribution to the study of diplomacy, economics, visual arts, and material culture in the medieval period.

Mamluk Cairo, a Crossroads for Embassies offers an up-to-date insight into the diplomacy and diplomatics of the Mamluk sultanate with Muslim and non-Muslim powers. This rich volume covers the whole chronological span of the sultanate as well as the various areas of the diplomatic relations established by (or with) the Mamluk sultanate. Twenty-six essays are divided in geographical sections that broadly respect the political division of the world as the Mamluk chancery perceived it. In addition, two introductory essays provide the present stage of research in the fields of, respectively, diplomatics and diplomacy. With contributions by Frédéric Bauden, Lotfi Ben Miled, Michele Bernardini, Bárbara Boloix Gallardo, Anne F. Broadbridge, Mounira Chapoutot-Remadi, Stephan Conermann, Nicholas Coureas, Malika Dekkiche, Rémi Dewière, Kristof D’hulster, Marie Favereau, Gladys Frantz-Murphy, Yehoshua Frenkel, Hend Gilli-Elewy, Ludvik Kalus, Anna Kollatz, Julien Loiseau, Maria Filomena Lopes de Barros, John L. Meloy, Pierre Moukarzel, Lucian Reinfandt, Alessandro Rizzo, Éric Vallet, Valentina Vezzoli and Patrick Wing.

The general field of study of this volume is the history and culture of the Mamluk Sultanate (1250–1517). It contains the proceedings of the First German-Japanese Workshop held at the Toyo Bunko in Tokyo, Japan. The authors write about a variety of topics from rural irrigation systems to high diplomacy vis à vis the Safavid empire and the Ottoman threat. The volume includes case studies of important personalities and families living in the centres of Mamluk power such as Cairo and Damascus as well as analyses of contemporary writers and their stance toward the ruling military class. Next to innovation in the field, this volume is an agenda of an increasing globalisation of scholarship that is fertilizing future research.

The Mamluk Sultanate represents an extremely interesting case study to examine social, economic and cultural developments in the transition into the rapidly changing modern world. On the one hand, it is the heir of a political and military tradition that goes back hundreds of years, and brought this to a high pitch that enabled astounding victories over serious external threats. On the other hand, as time went on, it was increasingly confronted with "modern" problems that would necessitate fundamental changes in its structure and content. The Mamluk period was one of great religious and social change, and in many ways the modern demographic map was established at this time. This volume shows that the situation of the Mamluk Sultanate was far from that of decadence, and until the end it was a vibrant society (although not without tensions and increasing problems) that did its best to adapt and compete in a rapidly changing world.

The Mongol period (1206-1368) marked a major turning point of exchange – culturally, politically, and artistically – across Eurasia. The wide-ranging international exchange that occurred during the Mongol period is most apparent visually through the inclusion of Mongol motifs in textile, paintings, ceramics, and metalwork, among other media. Eiren Shea investigates how a group of newly-confederated tribes from the steppe conquered the most sophisticated societies in existence in less than a century, creating a courtly idiom that permanently changed the aesthetics of China and whose echoes were felt across Central Asia, the Middle East, and even Europe. This book will be of interest to scholars in art history, fashion design, and Asian studies.

The essays in this volume bring to light the artistic exchanges that occurred between successive Islamicdynasties and those further afield in China, Armenia, India and Europe from the 12th to the 19th centuries. All the articles present original research, many of them taking advantage of innovative scientific means allowing us to look at already familiar objects in a new light. Subjects include tile production during the reign of Qaytbay, book bindings associated with Qansuh al-Ghuri, depictions of fish on Mamluk textiles, the relationship between Mamluk metalwork and Rasulid Yemen and Italy respectively. A number of the articles are concerned with epigraphic inscriptions found on the buildings of the Fatimid, Mamluk and Ottoman periods, examining the inscriptions on the Mausoleum of Yahya al-Shibihi in Cairo, others trace the revival of building inscriptions in 19th century Egypt, and how a Mamluk inscription from the Madrasa Qartawiya in Tripoli is replicated in Istanbul during the Ottomanperiod. The relationship between ceilings of the Cappella Palatina in Palermo and the MoukhroutasPalace in Constantinople is also explored, as is the unacknowledged debt that European lacquer worksowes to Persian craftsmen. Other topics covered include the architecture of the Nusretiye Mosque in Istanbul, the role played by Armenian architects in the reshaping of Ottoman cities in the 19th century, the role of the hammam in Ottoman culture and representations of beauty on Iznik pottery. Arictles on Port St. Symeon ceramics, the Armenian patrons of Chinese export wares of the 18th century, the history of the art of khatam khari in Iran, the artistic, architectural and literary influences in India between the 15th and 17th centuries, the influence of Timurid architecture in 15th century Bidar and the influence of a 16th century Hindavi Sufi Romance are also included. "

In the sixteenth century, the Ottoman court in Constantinople emerged as the axial centre of early modern diplomacy in Eurasia. Diplomatic Cultures at the Ottoman Court, c.1500-1630 takes a unique approach to diplomatic relations by focusing on how diplomacy was conducted and diplomatic cultures forged at a single court: the Sublime Porte. It unites studies from the perspectives of European and non-European diplomats with analyses from the perspective of Ottoman officials involved in diplomatic practices. It focuses on a formative period for diplomatic procedure and Ottoman imperial culture by examining the introduction of resident embassies on the one hand, and on the other, changes in Ottoman policy and protocol that resulted from the territorial expansion and cultural transformations of the empire in the sixteenth century. The chapters in this volume approach the practices and processes of diplomacy at the Ottoman court with special attention to ceremonial protocol, diplomatic sociability, gift-giving, cultural exchange, information gathering, and the role of para-diplomatic actors.

A Turning Point in Mamluk History deals with the process of decline of the Mamluk state (1250-1517). Its main thesis is that the origins of this process are to be found in the third reign of al-Nāsir Muḥammad Ibn Qalāwūn, more specifically in the changes he effected in the Mamluk system. The Mamluk army was the first to be confronted with these changes, whose impact on the social and political life of the Mamluk elite was already felt during al-Nāsir's own lifetime. The author follows their course of development to the end of autonomous Mamluk rule and reveals the transformation they wrought in the Mamluk code of values and political concepts. A final chapter deals with the overall economic decline of the Mamluk state and establishes the link of its various causes—demographic decline, monetary crises, the collapse of agriculture and industry—with Mamluk government misrule. Here it is al-Nāsir's expenditure policy and its repercussions on the economy which reveal his reign as a point of no return.