Frontmatter -- Contents -- Note on Dating and Transliterations -- Preface -- Introduction -- Chapter I. Shaping Perceptions: Reading and Interpreting the Norman Arabic Textile Inscriptions -- Chapter II. An Imported Ornament? Comparing the Functions of Textile Inscriptions in Sicily and Fatimid Egypt -- Chapter III. Contextualising Ornament: Seeing and Reading Arabic Textile Inscriptions in Norman Public Display -- Chapter IV. The Kufic Inscription on Roger II's Mantle: Continuity as a Political Choice -- Chapter V. A Textile Archive: The Norman Alb as a Document of Political Authority -- Conclusion -- Appendix -- Image Credits

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Isabelle Dolezalek is the recipient of the 2018 ICMA Annual Book Prize. Roger II's famous mantle and other royal garments from twelfth- and thirteenth-century Sicily prominently display Arabic inscriptions. While the phenomenon is highly unusual in the context of Latin Christian kingship, the use of inscriptions as a textile ornament was common and imbued with political functions in the Islamic courts of the medieval Mediterranean. This case study of the inscribed garments from Norman Sicily draws attention to the diverse functions of Arabic textile inscriptions using various contextual frames. Such a contextual approach not only highlights the specificities of the Norman textile inscriptions and emphasises the practical and political choices underlying their use at the Sicilian court, it also pinpoints the flaws of universalising approaches to transcultural ornamental in circulation in the medieval Mediterranean. This new perspective on the royal garments from Norman Sicily draws from a variety of disciplines, including Islamic and European art history, the history of textiles, epigraphy, legal history and historiography, and aims to challenge established notions of cultural and disciplinary boundaries.

Isabelle Dolezalek wurde für Ihre Arbeit mit dem 2018 ICMA Annual Book Prize des International Center of Medieval Art ausgezeichnet. Auf zahlreichen mittelalterlichen Objekten finden sich arabische Inschriften. Nur wenige davon wurden jedoch für lateinisch-christliche Auftraggeber produziert. Die normannischen und staufischen Königsgewänder aus Sizilien bilden eine bemerkenswerte Ausnahme. Welche Assoziationen sollte der Gebrauch arabischer Textilinschriften bei den zeitgenössischen Betrachtern im 12. und 13. Jahrhundert hervorrufen? Wie wurden die Inschriften in späteren Zeiten rezipiert? Die transkulturell und interdisziplinär ausgerichtete Studie beleuchtet praktische und politische Entscheidungen, die der Produktion der sizilischen Textilinschriften zugrunde liegen, und lenkt so das Augenmerk auf ein Ornament, das konventionelle kulturelle Grenzen nicht nur überschreitet, sondern grundlegend in Frage stellt.

funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

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In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Jul 2019)