Elephant-shaped drinking vessel (kendi ), second quarter of the 17th century. Iran, probably Kirman
The role of trade, diplomacy, and cultural interconnections is crucial to understanding works of art produced in the Islamic world. The fluid movement of artists and luxury objects among eastern and western Asia and Europe led to the cross-fertilization of motifs, designs, materials, and production techniques. The existence of a network of trading posts and routes throughout this vast geographic region facilitated long-distance communication, the transmission of ideas, and the emergence of a global culture. The chapters in this unit highlight artistic relationships between China and the Near East and those between Venice and the Islamic world.
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After reading this chapter, you will be able to identify how trade and cultural ties led to artistic exchange between China and the Near East from the tenth to the seventeenth century; and recognize visual evidence of these exchanges in ceramic works of art.
Subject Areas: Visual Arts; World History
After reading this chapter, you will be able to identify how factors such as trade and diplomacy led to artistic exchange between Venice and the Islamic world during the thirteenth through the sixteenth centuries; and recognize visual evidence of exchange in works of art.
Subject Areas: Visual Arts; World History
Unit Seven Lesson Plans
