Practising Diplomacy in the Mamluk Sultanate: Gifts and Material Culture in the Medieval Islamic World

(Paperback)

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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.

Author Bio

Doris Behrens-Abouseif is the Nasser D. Khalili Professor of Islamic Art and Archaeology at SOAS, University of London. She previously taught at the American University in Cairo and the University of Munich. She is widely acknowledged as the pre-eminent scholar on the architecture of Cairo, and a leading specialist in the art and cultural history of the Middle East. She has written a number of books on Islamic art and architecture, including Cairo of the Mamluks: A History of Architecture and its Culture (I.B.Tauris), The Minarets of Cairo: Islamic Architecture from the Arab Conquest to the end of the Ottoman Period (I.B.Tauris), and Beauty in Arabic Culture and Egypt's Adjustment to Ottoman Rule .