How did the Mongol conquerors of West Asia legitimise their rule over Iranian-Islamic territories they conquered? What was the role of patronage in this pursuit? In this talk, Professor Sussan Babaie illuminates the extraordinary flourishing of the arts and sciences in the late 13th to 14th centuries of Ilkhanate rule.

From monumental architecture that surpassed in complexity all that was built before to freshly glamoured craft technologies like gold-threaded nasij textiles, glazed ceramics, or metalworking, to unprecedented new genres in luxury manuscript production and scientific discoveries, the patronage of innovative technologies and objects of prestige defined an empire.

Focusing on metalworking techniques and objects, a range that includes the exclusive Courtauld Bag, gold horse trimmings and belt ornaments, we consider how these objects were worn, seen, and offered visual and material cultural cues to the naturalisation of the Mongol warrior elite as new rulers of settled peoples in the Irano-Islamic traditions of West Asia.

This lecture will be delivered in person in the War Cinema at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds and live-streamed.

Attendance is free but we ask that you please pre-book.

'Genghis Khan: How the Mongols Changed the World' Lecture Series has been supported by Leeds City Council as part of Leeds400.