Design transfers and working methods in the medieval and early modern periods

Book section

Looking at material culture from the eastern Islamicate realm, how is it that medallions radiating across a woven carpet are similar to those stamped on a leather cover of a book? Why does the vibrant architecture depicted in a painted page of a manuscript from Bukhara recall the arrangement of tiles on monuments erected in that city? Are the same skills necessary to carry out elaborate calligraphy on paper as they are for a large inscription carved onto the side of a building? All these questions refer to transfers that cross media, which in the medieval through early modern periods included textiles, leather, wood, lacquer, ceramic, stone, as well as small-scale painting or calligraphy on paper and large-scale depictions on a wall. There was also a permeability of designs that transferred between art and architecture. The migration of motifs across these surfaces suggests the existence of common sites of creation where ideas and forms were shared among artisans working with diverse substances, who consulted materials from earlier times to then replicate and refashion.

Authors: Comstock-Skipp, J

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: UNESCO
• Host title: Architecture, monuments and urbanism, Part I: Architectural influences along the Silk Roads
• Pages: 237-254
• Chapter number: 10
• Series: Thematic Collection of the Cultural Exchanges along the Silk Roads
• Place of publication: Paris, France
• Publication date: 2025-05-08
• Acceptance date: 2025-01-01
• Edition: 1
• DOI: 10.54678/JNRQ3162
• ISBN: 9789231007385
• Language: English