Research Guides: HIST 347: The Mongol Empire (HC): Visual Sources

Visual Resources

JSTOR Images (formerly Artstor)
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A digital library that provides access to thousands of images derived from a variety of museum, library and archival collections. Images support a variety of disciplines including architecture, painting, sculpture, and decorative arts.

Age of the Great Khan: Painting and Calligraphy in the Mongol Yuan Dynasty
The National Palace Museum created this website to accompany an exhibit on Mongol art in China. There are many images which can be browsed or searched. Thematic sections include:
Marco Polo;
Recluse Scholars;
Polyethnic Scholars;
The Imperial Clan
The Legacy of Genghis Khan
This is a thematic essay from the Metropolitan Museum of Art which features multiple thematic sections including:
The Mongolian Tent;
Takht-i Sulayman and Tile Work;
The Religious Arts;
Folios from the Jami' al-tavarikh;
The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia, 1256-1353
This website was created to accompany an exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2003. The sections are:
The Mongols in China
The Mongols in Iran
The Mongols and Islam
The Art of the Book
A New Visual Language
The Mongol Empire
Find more online art exhibits and resources about Mongol art.
Scrolls of the Mongol Invasion of Japan
Presents 13th century scrolls which were commissioned by a Japanese warrior who had fought against the Mongols.
How to read Chinese paintings
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"The Chinese way of appreciating a painting is often expressed by the words du hua, "to read a painting." How does one do that? Because art is a visual language, words alone cannot adequately convey its expressive dimension. How to Read Chinese Paintings seeks to visually analyze thirty-six paintings and calligraphies from the encyclopedic collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in order to elucidate what makes each a masterpiece."-BOOK JACKET.
Islamic chinoiserie: the art of Mongol Iran
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The Mongol invasion in the thirteenth century marked a new phase in the development of Islamic art. Trans-Eurasian exchanges of goods, people and ideas were encouraged on a large scale under the auspices of the Pax Mongolica. With the fascination of portable objects brought from China and Central Asia, a distinctive, hitherto unknown style—Islamic chinoiserie—was born in the art of Iran.

Highly illustrated, Islamic Chinoiserie offers a fascinating glimpse into the artistic interaction between Iran and China under the Mongols. By using rich visual materials from various media of decorative and pictorial arts—textiles, ceramics, metalwork and manuscript painting—the book illustrates the process of adoption and adaptation of Chinese themes in the art of Mongol-ruled Iran in a visually compelling way. The observation of this unique artistic phenomenon serves to promote the understanding of the artistic diversity of Islamic art in the Middle Ages.

Journal Articles in Art History

To find journal articles about art history topics, use Art Index as well as the multi-disciplinary databases, JSTOR and Proquest Research Library.

Examples of journal articles fromArt Index that combine historical issues with art include:

Yuan Ceramics: The Arts Under the Mongols. Hjni Elias. Arts of Asia; November/December 2006, Vol. 36 Issue 6, p80-93, 14p

Abstract: The development of ceramics production under Mongol rule in China during the Yuan dynasty (1272–1370) is examined. Following a brief history of the Mongols and a discussion of Mongol social and economic policies in China, the writer traces the development of the arts in general and of celadon wares in particular. She considers key influences in the development of ceramic production on the basis of the account of the 1322 edition of the Tao zhi luo, a report by local official Jiang Qi that documents the ceramic industry and porcelain manufacture at Jingdezhen, Jangxi Province. She also examines the development of Qingbai Buddhist figures in impressive large sizes, and the production of blue-and-white wares. She concludes with a brief discussion of the Mongols' legacy in China.

Request the print volume from Swarthmore

Gender and Empire: A View from Yuan China. Beverly Bossler. Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies; Winter2004, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p197-223, 27p

Abstract: Part of a special issue on gender and empire in the early medieval world. The writer explores how “empire” affected gender constructs in China, focusing on the experiences of the Chinese themselves during periods when the empire was under non-Han rule as well as on the experiences of those colonized by the Chinese empire. Although she considers the 12th to the 14th centuries in China under the rubric of “medieval,” she uses the term as no more than a convenient designation, borrowed from European history, to a rather vaguely defined time period. She examines the gendered response of the Chinese during a period of “foreign” domination in China, from roughly 1127 to 1368. In particular, she focuses on how the threat and, eventually, the fact of conquest of the Chinese heartland by the Mongols conditioned Han cultural ideals for male and female behavior.

Portraits

Genghis Khan [Wikimedia Commons]

Yuan Dynasty, Album leaf, ink and colors on silk

Chabi, wife of Khubilai Khan [Wikimedia Commons]

Yuan Dynasty, Album leaf, ink and colors on silk