Pathways of portability: Islamic and Christian interchange from the tenth to the twelfth century

Abstract

This paper will focus on the role of the portable arts in cross-cultural interchange between Islamic and Christian realms from the tenth to the twelfth century. I will argue here for an expansion of the study of portable arts beyond the traditional focus on sites of production to the consideration of the arenas in which works were circulated and viewed. Instead of asking where objects came from, the question will be how objects were used and perceived interculturally? What were the implications of portability? Portability allowed objects to extend beyond themselves, as mediators for and as sites of interchange. I will explore how identities and the meanings of these objects - the way they were defined and redefined - were tied to and shaped by their portability. © Association of Art Historians 2001.