SESSION: Animal Representation in the Global Middle Ages: Bridging the Natural and Social Worlds

Animals occupied a multivalent space in the medieval world. As part of nature, they were embedded in ecological systems, yet they were also abstracted into symbols of power, religious allegory, and medicinal knowledge—ultimately serving as a nexus between human societies and the natural environment. This panel explores the representation of animals across the global Middle Ages (c. 500–1500 CE), examining how diverse cultures imbued fauna with meaning through their representation. Moving beyond Eurocentric frameworks, we investigate how animal representations functioned as dynamic sites of meaning-making, from the meticulously rendered beasts in Islamic manuscripts, the symbolic menageries of Chinese paintings and prints, to the creatures that materialized along the Afro-Eurasian trade routes.

How did artists and patrons deploy animal iconography to articulate political authority, spiritual ideologies, or ecological knowledge? In what ways did the circulation of creatures, whether real or imagined, confer social prestige or negotiate cultural encounters? How did depictions of animals reflect or shape premodern environmental consciousness? Adopting a global perspective, we seek to illuminate the interconnectedness of medieval visual cultures while challenging anthropocentric narratives in art history. Of particular interest are studies that demonstrate how animals, as living beings and symbolic constructs, actively participated in shaping artistic traditions across regions. We welcome submissions focusing on understudied geographies and encourage interdisciplinary approaches that bridge art history and the environmental humanities. Ultimately, this panel aims to reconsider the global Middle Ages through its creaturely representations, revealing how such species—real, mythical, and metamorphic—fundamentally shaped medieval visual knowledge.

Session Convenors:

Yuxi Pan, SOAS University of London

Speakers:

Ella Beaucamp, LMU Munich

The Animal Imagery on Ambos from South Italy: An Audiovisual Perspective

Biting serpents, marine monsters, and pecking peacocks – the Romanesque ambones of Campania present a rich repertoire of animal imagery in sculpture and mosaic. Among their recurring motifs, the serpent coiling upward to bite a man beneath an eagle occupies a central position. Usually positioned beneath the Gospel lectern and oriented toward the congregation, the composition has been interpreted variously: as a survival of late antique prototypes, as a moral allegory of sin and redemption, as a universal image of humanity’s struggle between good and evil, or, more recently, as a visual counterpart to the Gospel proclaimed from the ambo.

Likewise, scenes of Jonah and the whale, depicted on ambos used for both Epistle and Gospel readings, allude not only to the death and resurrection of Christ – eschatological themes central to the Easter liturgy – but also correspond closely to the ritual practice and the readings required by the Liturgy of the Word.

This paper asks how these and other animal motifs on medieval ambos from Campania relate to the acoustic environment and actions performed around them. As iconographies addressing both clergy and laity, they mediated between speakers and listeners, between the visual and the audible, the architectural and the spatial: They animated the celebration of the mass, transforming the spoken word into a visual experience.

The presentation forms part of the research project “Bite, Swallow, Sing: An Oral Examination of the Romanesque Ambos in Campania (12th–13th c.)”, a DFG-funded project at the University of Munich directed by Joanna Olchawa.

Joshua J. Fitzgerald, University of Edinburgh

More than Caped Crusaders: Superhuman Eagle-Women, Cloak Makers and Aztec Animal Archives

The contrasting forces of animal-hide bedecked Jaguar and Eagle Warriors confronting iron-clad Spaniards during the Spanish invasion of Mesoamerica, 1519-21, have captured the public perception of military visual culture. It has constricted ‘medieval’ Mesoamerica’s art history of human-animal regalia into a primarily warfare discourse. Deeper cultural and political dynamics motivated Indigenous relations with zoomorphism and representations of human-animal motifs, and this paper’s purpose is to identify the multifaceted meanings that artists and crafters imbued in these traditions. It focuses on ancestral Nahua (commonly Aztec) visual culture from the Postclassic (900-1519 CE) sources (polychrome ceramics, sculpture and manuscripts) relating to the making of animal-based garb—dressings made from animal byproducts, wood, cloth and feather appliques—and the concept of mimicry of beasts to augment humans with supernatural powers. I build upon recent metaphysical and philological analyses of Nahuatl concepts (Bassett, 2015; Laack, 2020) to better understand regalia’s use in creating social order and capturing human behaviours, its weaponisation beyond combat, and its centrality in storytelling and archiving. I expand on earlier findings (Fitzgerald, 2022) in colonial texts and precolonial manuscripts, interpreting Postclassic visual writing systems and early-colonial sources written in alphabetic Nahuatl. This helps me recover gendered practices in craft and use, especially how Nahua women participated in the production of and were depicted in animal cloaks and headgear, such as the cuauhcihuatl (or “eagle-like woman”). More than just artful crusaders’ cloaks made to embody the jaguar or eagle in combat, animal likenesses shaped the ways that Nahuas maintained natural, supernatural and local histories.

Agnese Fusaro, University for Foreigners of Siena

Eleonora Serrone, Independent Researcher

Mixing clay with bones: pottery and zooarchaeological studies for a socio-cultural-economic understanding of the Islamic Banbhore (Pakistan)

Situated in the delta of the Indus River (Sindh, Pakistan), facing the Indian Ocean, the site of Banbhore provides a unique opportunity to study the interplay between humans, animals, and material culture from the first centuries to the early 13th century CE. This paper presents preliminary results from an ongoing study of ceramics and faunal remains dated to the early Islamic period (8th-12th century), shedding light on aspects of diet, economy, environment, and intercultural exchange.

Local unglazed pottery reveals a persistence of naturalistic zoomorphic and floral motifs that may echo pre-Islamic symbolic traditions. This suggests visual continuity within evolving socio-religious contexts. At the same time, these representations, along with the terracotta figurines, depict the area’s fauna and flora. Analysis of the faunal remains indicates a prevalence of domestic species, such as sheep and goats, alongside oxen and buffalo, which are often depicted in pottery and served as food and agricultural resources. Fish and small wild animals also formed part of the diet.

The numerous ceramics imported from Iran, the Gulf, India, China, and Central Asia highlight Banbhore’s involvement in an extensive trade network. The discovery of remains of both dromedaries and camels, as well as African ostrich eggs, reinforces this picture of active connectivity and exchange. By examining how real and represented animals embodied ecological, economic and symbolic meanings, this study situates Banbhore within the broader discourse on animal representation in the global Middle Ages, in which species, goods, and images were intertwined to shape understandings of nature and society.

Elizabeth Kelly, Independent Researcher

Animals of medieval Central Asia: the interpretation of zoomorphic incense burners as fantastical creatures

After the Arab conquest of Central Asia in 30/651, a burgeoning of fantastical depictions of animals appeared in Khurasani artwork. This paper examines the role and function of fantastical creatures referencing zoomorphic incense burners (ZIBs), those enigmatic, auspicious objects that enjoyed a florescence in medieval Khurasan between c.441/1050 and 597/1200.

The expanding trade routes facilitated the movement of goods, artisans and transcultural exchanges and created a dynamic environment for the integration and adoption of new ideas by the political elite and the expanding middle classes. This led to changes in iconography and the development of factual and fantastical animal forms.

Fantastical animals served a range of cultural and societal roles in public and private environments, used to explain the unknown in the farther reaches of the world, adopted as a means of sharing exciting tales of adventure. In some instances, given the humour of the period, these creatures may have been a form of entertainment.

The question is how ZIBs relate to these fantastical creatures and how they incorporate classical motifs along with connotations of magical and imperial power. They may also have astrological associations and represent the military class.

The methodology adopted in this paper involves a review of relevant art-historical texts, illustrated zoological manuscripts and bestiaries, and representations of comparable objects across a range of contemporaneous materials, including ceramics and other metalwork. It reveals the Khurasani penchant for fantastical and chimeric creatures.

Yuxi Pan, SOAS University of London

Reconceptualizing Female and Animal Agency: Intersections of Women and Animals in Jin–Yuan Visual Culture

This paper examines the intersections of women and animals in Jin–Yuan visual culture, exploring how this period transformed the representation of women through their dynamic relationships with animals. Drawing on diverse visual contexts—from didactic paintings of virtuous widows who slay tigers to rescue their husbands, historical narratives of courageous women such as Wang Zhaojun who served as mounted envoys between China and northern nomadic states, and the Shan Gui of the Nine Songs, a lovelorn mountain spirit riding a red leopard—this study traces the shifting roles of women as mediated through animal agencies.

In the Jin–Yuan period, women were increasingly depicted through mastery over powerful animals. Works such as Consort Yang Mounting a Horse by Qian Xuan and Man and Woman on Horseback depict women actively mounting or riding horses, while scenes such as Shan Gui Riding a Leopard and Slaying the Tiger to Save Her Husband emphasize combat or control over fierce beasts. These images highlight female bravery, mobility, and an expanded range of agency.

By examining the interplay between women and animals, this paper further demonstrates how Jin–Yuan artists visualized animal agency as both symbolically potent and physically embodied. These works reveal how animal companions—or symbolic forms of animality—mediate, activate, and reshape representational space. Ultimately, femininity and animality in Jin–Yuan art are mutually constitutive, offering a lens to reconceptualize the women and animals, two long-overlooked subjects in premodern Chinese visual culture.