ARTH 339 - Art, Wit, and Might in Islamic Courts

FC ARHU CD

4 credits
How do artists, patrons, and audiences negotiate power and aesthetic pleasure? This course examines the art produced for courtly elites between 1300-1800. In recent years, scholars have increasingly relied on the term “Persianate culture” to describe a set of literary texts, bodily practices, and codes of conduct shared in courts across the Islamic world. Our focus will be this shared courtly culture, supplemented with comparative cases of diverse origins, from Yuan China to Renaissance Italy. We will study architecture, luxury objects, poetry, and illustrated manuscripts to understand how courtiers fashioned identities, and how the arts shaped courtly societies. We will address issues of race, gender, religious difference, and artistic identity. Readings include primary sources and influential secondary texts from art history, literature, and social sciences.
Prerequisites & Notes: Prerequisites: An intermediate 200-level (formerly 300-level) course in ARTH or consent of the instructor.
Does this course require off campus field trips? Yes