Edinburgh University Press
Islamic Objects in Seventeenth-Century Italy
About this book
The ebook editions are now available to purchase. The hardback edition is due to publish October 2025. Explores the history of material exchanges between the Islamic world and Italy in the seventeenth century
- Analyses the procurement networks of Islamic artefacts from the Eastern Mediterranean to Florence and Bologna in the seventeenth century
- Revisits the history of Italian perceptions of Islamic material culture
- Explores for the first time the history of material exchanges between the Islamic world and Italy in the seventeenth century
- Draws on unpublished archival sources
- Brings together cultural history, political history, economic history and the history of Islamic art
This book reassesses the idea that Islamic objects in seventeenth-century Italy were considered mere curiosities, sparking no cultural or historical interest. It focuses on Italy’s largest collection of Islamic artefacts of the time, assembled by the Medici agent and Bolognese nobleman Ferdinando Cospi in his public gallery: the Cospi Museum. Through an extensive investigation of inventories, letters, and archival documents, the book follows the objects through the various paths which took them from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, through North African cities, to Livorno, Florence and, finally, Bologna. These paths reveal the presence of a network of enslaved Turks, Arab scholars, Egyptian fishermen and Armenian merchants, all responsible for importing both the items and their stories, biographies and anecdotes to Italy. The book thus brings forward to the seventeenth century a phenomenon of cultural inquisition that was thought to start only a century later.
Topics
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Frontmatter
i -
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Contents
v -
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Illustrations
vi -
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Abbreviations
x -
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Acknowledgements
xii -
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Series Editor’s Foreword
xiv -
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INTRODUCTION All Things Turkish
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CHAPTER 1 The Life of Ferdinando Cospi
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CHAPTER 2 The History of the Cospi Museum
32 -
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CHAPTER 3 Islamic Artefacts Collected by Ferdinando Cospi
54 -
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CHAPTER 4 Acquisitions from the Ottoman World
87 -
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CHAPTER 5 Acquisitions from the Italian Market
124 -
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CHAPTER 6 Patronage and Donations
142 -
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CHAPTER 7 Transmission and Preservation of Knowledge
180 -
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CONCLUSIONS The Proto-ethnography of Collecting
215 -
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Appendices
219 -
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Catalogue
273 -
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Bibliography
337 -
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Index
363
