Gifts from the Ming Court to the Islamic World
This talk presents diplomatic letters, including those compiled in chancery manuals, as source materials that illustrate in detail the material culture of diplomacy between Ming China and the Islamic world. It seeks to shed new light on the Ming items sent as gifts, the exchange etiquette, and the reception of such objects in the Islamic culture of gift giving.
The lecture is kindly sponsored by the Hotung family.
Speaker
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Yusen YuLecturer in Iranian Islamic Art HistoryDr Yu started at St Andrews in 2021. Prior to that, he was a Junior Research Fellow at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He studied History, Persian Studies, and Islamic Art History in China, Iran, and the UK, and completed his PhD at Heidelberg University, Germany.
His primary field of research is early and mediaeval Islamic art and architecture. This includes its reception of foreign, especially Chinese, objects. Another strong interest is the interaction of science, religion and art in medieval Islam.
More broadly, Dr Yu is interested in comparative approaches in mediaeval studies.
