This book focuses on the production, sale, and consumption of portable arts in regions covered today by the modern polities of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and the Palestine Authority. The reprinted chapters in this volume have been revised and updated. They offer interdisciplinary approaches to the material culture of the region from the twelfth to the early twentieth centuries, combining evidence from primary written sources, archaeology, and objects in museums and private collections. Topics include the production and distribution of pottery, importation of glazed wares into the Middle East, shadow puppetry, economic activity associated with the Syrian hajj, the manufacturing practices of the crafts operating in Damascus during the last decades of Ottoman rule, and the decoration of artillery shell cases during and after World War I. Also included are an introduction containing a critical evaluation of the main sources of information, a cumulative bibliography, and a previously unpublished study of leatherworking in the late Ottoman period.
SKU (ISBN): 978-1-4632-3900-8
Publication Status: In Print
Publication Date: Jul 3,2018
Interior Color: Black with Color Inserts
Trim Size: 7 x 10
Page Count: 379
Languages: English
ISBN: 978-1-4632-3900-8
This book addresses the production, distribution and use of manufactured objects in Egypt and Syria from the start of the Ayyubid dynasty in 1171 through to the early twentieth century. The chapters combine archaeological evidence, museum objects, primary texts, and early photographs of the Middle East. This interdisciplinary approach demonstrates the importance of material culture and traditional craft practices in the reconstruction of social and economic history.
REVIEWS
"The author's deft handling of the interdisciplinary approach characteristic of the field of Islamic archaeology is on full display in these studies. They represent a model of methodological practice for the interpretation of medieval material culture.
As varied as these essays are in content, they share the same probing research, meticulous logic, and crisp prose...Researchers will be grateful for the assembly of these pioneering articles
By conferring more attention to the later periods than the earlier ones, centering Syria rather than Egypt, emphasizing humbler materials over luxury arts, and focusing more on the making and makers than iconography and aesthetics, Milwright - without much ado - subverts a number of traditions in past scholarship on the region. The whole amounts to even more than the sum of its parts."
- Excerpts from Ellen Kenney, Der Islam 2021
