SESSION: Facing the Mongol Empire: The Role of Art History (FULL DAY – PART 1)
In the vibrant field of Middle Period art history, the study of cultures across Northeast Asia, the region from the Korean peninsula to the edges of the Taklamakan desert, is beginning to stand out. In this area, Kitan/Liao, Tangut/Xia, Jurchen/Jin, Uighur, Chinese/Song, Korean/Goryeo and in the vibrant field of Middle Period art history, the study of cultures across Northeast Asia, the region from the Korean peninsula to the edges of the Taklamakan desert, is beginning to stand out. In this area Kitan/Liao, Tangut/Xia, Jurchen/Jin, Uighur, Chinese/Song, Korean/Goryeo and latterly Mongol/Yuan cultures, among others, co-existed and/or succeeded one another over the Middle Period (10th-14th centuries). This session seeks to centre and correlate the role (or roles) of art historical practices in approaches to this age in two parts, the first ranging from the Kitan period through to the unification of the Mongols by Chinggis Khaan (r. 1206-27) under the Great Mongol State and the second on the varied state and cultural manifestations under the successors of Chinggis. Proposals that bridge the two halves are also welcome.
Suggested areas of enquiry include: 1) Regional and transcultural/transhistorical character — how did the diverse ecologies of NE Asia shape the arts and patterns of artistic production across dynastic and political boundaries? 2) The priority of sources —scholarship on the groups that inhabited this region have historically relied on texts for information: how are these contradicted, or complicated, by objects and visual histories? 3) Buddhism, especially Himalayan and other esoteric strands of doctrine, and its relation to other religions. 4) Hierarchy of media within art history. 5) How nomad polities shaped the roles of women, and women as role models in cultural production and the generation of value systems. 6) The problematic notion of universal culture under a world empire.
Session Convenors:
Eiren Shea, Grinnell College
Shane McCausland, SOAS University of London
Part 1: Session Speakers:
Hasret Kılıçoğlu, Istanbul University
Religion as Vehicle of the Khatuns: Artistic Agency of the Ilkhanid Khatuns in the Mongol Court
The perception of religion among nomadic societies in Asia differs significantly from that of sedentary communities. As their lives were more intimately tied to nature than those of their settled counterparts, their spiritual practices evolved in harmony with natural cycles and were largely pragmatic, serving to regulate the harsh conditions of life on the steppe. Following the Mongols’ rapid expansion from the Far East to Asia Minor and their subsequent political fragmentation, various Mongol groups adopted different religions to sustain power and legitimacy within their regions. Within this process, the Mongol khatuns, whether of Mongolian origin or foreign brides who entered the Mongol court, played a pioneering role in disseminating diverse faiths among the khans and within imperial circles. This paper examines the relationship between the Ilkhanid khatuns and Christian and Muslim missionaries at the Mongol court between 1265 and 1330s, focusing on how these interactions influenced both conversion dynamics and artistic production in the Ilkhanate. The artistic agency of the Ilkhanid khatuns had a profound influence on the political, religious, and even sectarian atmosphere of the court in Iran. Their presence beside the khan, along with their administrative and ceremonial authority, enabled them to project their beliefs into courtly art and ritual, transforming faith into an active medium of power and cultural synthesis.
Amanda Leong, The Courtauld Institute of Art
Reflections of Authority: Mirrors and Women in Ilkhanid Iran
Art historian Stefano Carboni interprets circular-handled mirrors in the medieval eastern Islamic world as utilitarian objects tied to personal grooming and ‘narcissism.’ However, a close analysis of Ilkhanid metalwork (ex. the Courtauld bag) and illustrated manuscripts (Rashid al-Din’s Jami‘ al-Tavarikh and the Great Mongol Shahnamah) reveals a more intentional deployment of this visual motif. The recurring motif of circular-handled mirrors alongside female figures across these media suggests a deliberate visual strategy—one in which artists, elite patrons, and likely elite matrons used to reinforce the understanding of elite women as didactic exemplars, demanding awe and emulation from both genders. By reinterpreting circular-handled mirror as a visual strategy to reinforcing gendered sociopolitical ideals, this paper offers a new lens through which to view female authority and gender dynamics during the Ilkhanid period.
Ruolin Gong, University of Pennsylvania
Crowned to be Seen: Verticality and Visibility in Mongol Gugu (Boqta) Hats
Worn at imperial audiences and after marriage, the gugu (boqta) that towers above its wearer was a striking element of women’s dress during the Mongol Empire (1206–1368). This paper reconstructs the hat’s material structure and cross-cultural genealogy by integrating textual records, paintings, murals, and archaeological finds spanning China,
Mongolia, Central Asia, and the Islamic world. I argue that the gugu was a culturally hybrid artifact whose dramatic verticality, avian imagery, and encircling head cover embodied Inner Asian ideals of rank, propriety, and controlled visibility. Bust-length portraits of Mongol empresses make legible a tripartite architecture: 1) a strapped head covering that resembles felt caps and “wind hats;” 2) a lightweight cylindrical core that amplifies height while accommodating a topknot; and 3) a detachable feathered or avian finial that completes the verticality and evokes the pan-Eurasian steppe bird imagery. Reading these components alongside comparative evidence from Inner Asia, China, and the Korean peninsula from 5th century BCE–14th century CE reveals the persistence and reinvention of avian motifs in elite women’s headgear, as well as deeper steppe traditions of vertical bird-crown composite.
Rui Wang, Independent Researcher
Facing the Visual Silence: Art History and the Missing Female Equestrian in Mongol-Yuan China
This project examines the disappearance of the female equestrian motif in Yuan (1271-1368) China to elucidate a major shift in gender representation. By analyzing a triad of visual sources—murals of the religious and hybrid elite, literati paintings of the Han scholar, and ceramic pillow designs from artisan workshops—this study captures a cross-sectional view of societal values. The systematic decline of the powerful, mobile horsewoman across these distinct media, which catered to aristocratic, scholarly, and popular audiences, signals a profound, society-wide ideological transformation. The research employs a comparative analysis of these Yuan materials with Tang precedents, framed by theories of gender and visual culture. It reveals that the vanished equestrian was replaced by a new paradigm emphasizing domesticity, piety, and familial roles. This study argues that the consistent erasure of the motif across different social strata—from the hybrid elite in murals, to the Han literati in painting, and the artisan class in commercial goods—indicates a powerful, top-down re-gendering of identity that transcended ethnic and class boundaries. This interdisciplinary approach fills a critical gap in Mongol Yuan studies by demonstrating how art history, through the systematic study of diverse visual media, can uncover the unspoken cultural negotiations of empire. It positions visual culture as a primary source for understanding how political power and social ideology were consolidated through the control of gendered imagery.