The Hidden Life of Textiles in the Medieval and Early Modern Mediterranean

The book contains published papers of the conference 'Textiles & Identity in the Medieval and Early Modern Mediterranean: Paradigms of Contexts and Cross-Cultural Exchanges' of the British School at Athens held at the (Benaki) Museum of Islamic Art in 2016, as well as some new contributions. The focus in this varied collection of studies by key scholars in the field is on textiles and their functions in various Mediterranean contexts (and beyond) during Medieval and Post-Medieval times (ca. 10th-19th c.). The scope of the contributions encompasses archaeological, anthropological and art historical perspectives on diverse subjects, such as textiles from the Byzantine Empire and the Medieval Islamic World (e.g. Spain, Mamluk Egypt, Seljuk Anatolia), Italy, the Ottoman Empire, Armenia and Ethiopia. The volume offers a state-of-the-art of an often still hardly known scope in studies of textiles as historical and cultural sources of information, which makes it essential reading for scholars and a larger audience alike. The book includes contributions by Avinoam Shalem, Scott Redford, Marielle Martiniani-Reber, Dickran Kouymjian, Laura Rodriguez Peinado, Ana Cabrera-Lafuente, Vera-Simone Schulz, Nikolaos Vryzidis, Elena Papastavrou, Jacopo Gnisci and Maria Sardi.