ABSTRACT
Byzantine–Seljuq relations in the twelfth century were highly contentious. In the background, however, behind this political and military confrontation, there also transpired a commingling of people and artistic traditions through trade, diplomacy, marriage and defection. In this chapter, I explore examples of eastern Islamic artistic forms that migrated to Byzantium and ask how deeply they were assimilated within local (i.e. Byzantine) artistic practices and visual culture. Taking a fine-grain approach to eastern Islamic groups, I consider historical and artistic interactions with both the Great Seljuqs (1037–1194) and the Seljuq Sultanate of Rūm (1077–1308) as well as direct and mediated connections with other eastern Islamic dynasties, including the Ghurids (879–1215), Ghaznavids (977–1186) and Artuqids (1101–1409). I propose that eastern Islamic artistic forms maintained a quality of otherness even when they were adopted and imitated in Byzantium for local consumption. The alterity of these works of monumental and portable art was essential to the meanings that they conveyed. Their messages included notions of Byzantine identity and cultural superiority, which was expressed through an articulation of difference from eastern Islamic visual culture and the socio-political groups associated with it.
