ABSTRACT
The Mongol Empire ushered in a new era of intercultural relations in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. For the first time, individuals traveled from one end of Eurasia to the other; in no prior era had cultures been brought into contact through war, trade, and diplomacy with such immediacy. What resulted from this far-reaching exchange was innovation in visual culture and the spread of forms, media, and technology favored by the Mongols. This is reflected especially in textiles, but also found in other media such as blue and white porcelain and ceramics, and manuscript painting. 1 The fall of the Yuan dynasty in 1368 to Ming forces and the demise of the Ilkhanate in 1335 did not mark a distinct endpoint for Mongol impact in Asia. Rather, there is evidence from the states that were established across Asia after the fall of the Mongol Empire that demonstrates that innovations from the Mongol period had an enduring effect. Further afield, Mongol culture also made a lasting impression on certain European centers, which we see echoed in the arts of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
