Commodity and exchange in the Mongol Empire

Thomas Allsen investigates the significance of cloth and colour in the political cultures of Islam, Iran, the steppe peoples, and China, thereby illuminating the cultural dynamics which condition the act of borrowing. His conclusion places the transmission of Muslim textiles and clothing culture to China within the broader context of the history of the Silk Road, the primary link in East-West cultural communication during the pre-modern era.

The book promises, therefore, to be of interest not only to students of Middle Eastern and Asian history, but also to geographers, anthropologists, art historians, and textile specialists.