Asian Objects and Western European Court Culture in the Middle Ages

This collection focuses on the contacts between Asia and Europe after the discovery of the Cape-route by Vasco da Gama in 1498. From then on, the import of Indian and Chinese commodities to Europe became an increasingly easier business than it was in the centuries before.1 The aim of the present article is to show that despite the difficulties of importation, Asian objects played an important part in European court culture already in the Middle Ages.