ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates how meanings behind certain motifs and types of dress shifted, if at all, or remained the same between the Yuan court and the Ilkhanid court. Mongol court dress represented political power in both the eastern and western ends of the Mongol Empire. Although the Ilkhanate, the Golden Horde, and the Chaghatai khanate were all technically subordinate to the supreme khanate, the Ilkhans were the only group that had continuous relations with the Yuan throughout the Mongol period. The chapter focuses primarily on the Ilkhans, bringing in Mamluk material where relevant. The generational difference, alongside the diverse locations in which these manuscripts were created, reveal the way in which the Mongol visual vocabulary shifted depending on context, although it continued to be relevant throughout the Ilkhanid period. Examining the impact of Mongol dress in West Asia comes with a set of challenges, most crucially the lack of extant material.
