Papers by Martina Rugiadi
Muqarnas 40, 2024
MESSAGE IF YOU NEED A C0PY! The monolithic designation of “sphero-conical vessels,” chosen to cir... more MESSAGE IF YOU NEED A C0PY! The monolithic designation of “sphero-conical vessels,” chosen to circumvent the long-standing modern debate around the function of these objects, does not satisfy the multiplicity of terms and uses that they had in the past. A munāẓara (disputation) by Zangi al-Bukhari titled “Dispute between the mavīzāb and the fuqqāʿ of the Iranians” (presented here in full translation) provides new insight into one such use, while also expanding our understanding of everyday life in late thirteenth–early fourteenth-century Baghdad.
Drawing from this Persian work and from Arabic medieval cookery books, this essay connects the physical qualities of drinks and associated etiquettes of consumption to the materiality of surviving objects. Still raisin drinks were ladled from large metal bowls into smaller ones. Earthenware sphero-conical vessels, perhaps a group among those resembling pinecones, were used individually, to gulp down the foam of effervescent drinks.
Vicino Oriente, 2016
This report presents the preliminary results of the study of the pottery collected during the exc... more This report presents the preliminary results of the study of the pottery collected during the excavation campaign carried out in 2012 in the framework of the joint Iranian-Italian Archaeological Mission in Estakhr. The ceramic finds relate to a time span ranging from the 9 th to the 12 th century, corresponding to the occupation phases identified within the stratigraphy. Moreover, the use of archaeometry made it possible to identify both imported and locally manufactured wares.
Stuttgart Afghanistan Magazin zur Austellung 2, 2024
An inscribed alabaster fragments connects an Afghan mosque and a German museum.
Stuttgart Afghanistan Magazin zur Austellung, 2024
Archaeological research in Ghazni and the Linden Museum Ghazni collection.
Traces of Ages. International Scientific Almanac, 2023
Summary of the 2019 and 2023 fieldwork seasons. Trench DDK1: domestic structures and urban street... more Summary of the 2019 and 2023 fieldwork seasons. Trench DDK1: domestic structures and urban street, C14 dating up to the 12th century, later occupation. Local ceramic and brick production. Geophysical survey of the urban area. Trench DDK3: brick floor with reused epitaph, and carved stucco mihrab and qibla wall.
The Brummer Galleries, Paris and New York Defining Taste from Antiquities to the Avant-Garde, ed. by Yaëlle Biro, Christine E. Brennan, and Christel H. Force , 2023
https://brill.com/display/book/9789004541061/BP000019.xml?body=previewpdf-60831 - PLEASE CON... more https://brill.com/display/book/9789004541061/BP000019.xml?body=previewpdf-60831 - PLEASE CONTACT ME IF YOU WOULD LIKE A PDF
Throughout its activity, the Brummer Gallery in New York does not appear to have prioritized the arts from the regions situated to the south and east of Europe and in North Africa. Of the 14,000 object cards in the Brummer Gallery Records, only about 5% belong to Western Asian cultures. Nonetheless, noteworthy objects from Egypt, Syria, Southwestern Arabia, Anatolia, Iraq, Iran, and India—most notably those in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met), the Freer Gallery, and the Baltimore Museum of Art—are associated with the gallery’s activity. Referred to as “highlights” or “masterpieces,” such objects have become ubiquitous images in popular and scholarly publications, defining the perception of these arts.1 Joseph Brummer collected objects from this region for the Paris gallery from 1909,2 and in 1911–13 his brothers Imre and Ernest were also exposed to a diversity of cultures, be it during their long stays in Egypt as buyers, or Ernest’s studies at the École du Louvre and the Sorbonne.3 Imre’s first travel to New York in 1914 ensued in the presentation of an “Assyrian” plate “w/ figures of two people”4 to the Met—the earliest recorded offer of sale from the Brummers in the museum archives. Although this specific deal did not go through, fruitful transactions with the Met concerning ancient Near Eastern and Islamic art objects followed.5 By 1948, after Joseph’s passing, the Brummer Gallery in New York comprised a “Persian room,” which included at least two large wall-cases loaded with objects from West Asia carefully displayed on shelves, six free-standing cases containing a single object—an aesthetic approach reserved for pre-Islamic objects with sculptural qualities—, as well as an Achaemenid relief from Persepolis hanging on the wall (Figures 10.1a–c).6
Journal of Field Archaeology , 2023
This study draws on archaeological, stylistic, and technological evidence to explore ceramic and ... more This study draws on archaeological, stylistic, and technological evidence to explore ceramic and brick production of the medieval Islamic period in the southern Karakum region in Turkmenistan, home to many urban sites along the so-called Silk Roads. We focus on a 9th–12th centuries a.d. assemblage recovered from the site of Dandanakan/Daş Rabat during the first season of ToKa (Town of Karakum project) in 2019. Special emphasis is paid to characterizing the local ceramic fabrics and ceramic technologies through macroscopic examination and petrography, SEM-EDS, and FTIR analyses. Our results show that unglazed and glazed earthenware were manufactured using two local or regional clay outcrops, also employed in the brick kilns detected outside of Dandanakan’s city walls. A different clay was used for the slip of the glazed earthenware. These all had high lead-silica glazes, except for the turquoise glazes detected on both earthen- and siliceous wares.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00934690.2023.2258479
“Digging deeper into the urban history of Dandanakan – Daş Rabat”, with Paul Wordsworth, Mukhamme... more “Digging deeper into the urban history of Dandanakan – Daş Rabat”, with Paul Wordsworth, Mukhammed Mamedov, Rejep Jepbarov, Antiquity of of Turkmenistan. Scientific research and restorations of monuments, Ashgabat, pp. 259-266.
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/sljt/hd_sljt.htm
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/slje/hd_slje.htm
Court and Cosmos - The Great Age of the Seljuqs, 2016
In Stephen Pinson, Monumental Journey. The Daguerreotypes of Girault de Prangey, The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Yale University Press, New York, ISBN 9781588396631, pp. 157-163, 219-222., 2019
"On the Ground. The Archaeological Site of Istakhr," pp. 127-195.
This paper presents an overvie... more "On the Ground. The Archaeological Site of Istakhr," pp. 127-195.
This paper presents an overview of the site and remains of Istakhr as documented by the joint Iranian-Italian Archaeological Mission at Istakhr between 2011 and 2015, a map with the archaeological indicators recorded on the terrain, and a detailed list of those indicators. The new data provides for provisional reflections on the diachronic development of the settlement. No evidence has emerged of the pre-Sasanian history of the site. The walled town may have had up to seven or ten gates. During the 9th-10th centuries, a dense settlement is attested as having stood within and beyond the walled town (at least to the south and on two small mounds to the east). The 11th century seems to have seen a reduction in size of the occupation, although a more precise dating of some ceramic wares in the future may prove the contrary. In the 13-15th centuries, continuous human presence is only attested in a small area to the north within the walls, and possibly on the northeastern mound. Porcelain fragments, stone heaps that may be tombs, and a sizeable enclosure called Takht-i ṭāvūs, point to the sporadic presence of semi-nomadic groups at least in the 19th-20th centuries.
This short essay investigates the parallel and distinct development of stonepaste (fritware) in S... more This short essay investigates the parallel and distinct development of stonepaste (fritware) in Syria and Iran on the basis of archaeological evidences and historical sources.
La trincea aperta nel corso di questa prima campagna di scavo, a ovest della moschea, ha evidenzi... more La trincea aperta nel corso di questa prima campagna di scavo, a ovest della moschea, ha evidenziato almeno otto fasi. La fase 1 è relativa al muro esterno della moschea, dotato di un'apertura e di una torre semicircolare. Di particolare interesse (fase 2) è un asse stradale lastricato, connesso a una rilevante dorsale fognaria. L'articolazione della strada, già messa in evidenza dalle indagini geofisiche, sembra delimitare un importante quartiere a ovest della moschea. L'asse stradale, pur subendo un parziale rifacimento sul lato ovest (fase 3), conserva la sua fisionomia fino a tutta la fase 4. La successiva sovrapposizione di più livelli stradali in terra battuta che obliterano la strada lastricata, restringendone la carreggiata pur conservandone l'orientamento (fase 5), sembra mettere in evidenza la perdita di rilevanza del quartiere ad ovest della moschea, probabilmente in corrispondenza di una fase di decadenza della compagine urbana risalente all'XI secolo.
in Vicino Oriente XVI, 2012, 2012
P. Sferrazza -Cattivi presagi: analisi della raffigurazione della Stanza 132 del Palazzo Reale di... more P. Sferrazza -Cattivi presagi: analisi della raffigurazione della Stanza 132 del Palazzo Reale di Mari 29 I. Melandri -A new reconstruction of the anklets of Princess Khnumit 41 G. Ripepi -Gli edifici su podio in Palestina durante l'Età del Ferro II 55 F. Spagnoli -Un altare bruciaprofumi punico dalla "Casa del sacello domestico" a Mozia 71 M. Guirguis -Monte Sirai 2005-2010. Bilanci e prospettive 97 V. Tusa -Le armi dei corredi tombali della necropoli arcaica di Mozia 131 C. Benvenuto -F. Pompeo -Il sincretismo di genitivo e dativo in persiano antico 151 A. Caltabiano -Temples et sanctuaires urbains du littoral syrien à l'âge du fer: continuité et transformation culturelles 245 M. Sala -Egyptian and Egyptianizing objects from EB I-III Tell es-Sultan/ancient Jericho 275 NOTE F. Spagnoli -Un'anforetta dipinta dalla Tomba T.177 di Mozia 303 Un accordo di collaborazione tra Sapienza e autorità iraniane ha permesso l'avvio di nuove indagini archeologiche a Estakhr (Iran -epoca sasanide e islamica). Durante la prima campagna (primavera 2012) è stata effettuata una ricognizione topografica e archeologica del sito.
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Papers by Martina Rugiadi
Drawing from this Persian work and from Arabic medieval cookery books, this essay connects the physical qualities of drinks and associated etiquettes of consumption to the materiality of surviving objects. Still raisin drinks were ladled from large metal bowls into smaller ones. Earthenware sphero-conical vessels, perhaps a group among those resembling pinecones, were used individually, to gulp down the foam of effervescent drinks.
Throughout its activity, the Brummer Gallery in New York does not appear to have prioritized the arts from the regions situated to the south and east of Europe and in North Africa. Of the 14,000 object cards in the Brummer Gallery Records, only about 5% belong to Western Asian cultures. Nonetheless, noteworthy objects from Egypt, Syria, Southwestern Arabia, Anatolia, Iraq, Iran, and India—most notably those in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met), the Freer Gallery, and the Baltimore Museum of Art—are associated with the gallery’s activity. Referred to as “highlights” or “masterpieces,” such objects have become ubiquitous images in popular and scholarly publications, defining the perception of these arts.1 Joseph Brummer collected objects from this region for the Paris gallery from 1909,2 and in 1911–13 his brothers Imre and Ernest were also exposed to a diversity of cultures, be it during their long stays in Egypt as buyers, or Ernest’s studies at the École du Louvre and the Sorbonne.3 Imre’s first travel to New York in 1914 ensued in the presentation of an “Assyrian” plate “w/ figures of two people”4 to the Met—the earliest recorded offer of sale from the Brummers in the museum archives. Although this specific deal did not go through, fruitful transactions with the Met concerning ancient Near Eastern and Islamic art objects followed.5 By 1948, after Joseph’s passing, the Brummer Gallery in New York comprised a “Persian room,” which included at least two large wall-cases loaded with objects from West Asia carefully displayed on shelves, six free-standing cases containing a single object—an aesthetic approach reserved for pre-Islamic objects with sculptural qualities—, as well as an Achaemenid relief from Persepolis hanging on the wall (Figures 10.1a–c).6
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00934690.2023.2258479
This paper presents an overview of the site and remains of Istakhr as documented by the joint Iranian-Italian Archaeological Mission at Istakhr between 2011 and 2015, a map with the archaeological indicators recorded on the terrain, and a detailed list of those indicators. The new data provides for provisional reflections on the diachronic development of the settlement. No evidence has emerged of the pre-Sasanian history of the site. The walled town may have had up to seven or ten gates. During the 9th-10th centuries, a dense settlement is attested as having stood within and beyond the walled town (at least to the south and on two small mounds to the east). The 11th century seems to have seen a reduction in size of the occupation, although a more precise dating of some ceramic wares in the future may prove the contrary. In the 13-15th centuries, continuous human presence is only attested in a small area to the north within the walls, and possibly on the northeastern mound. Porcelain fragments, stone heaps that may be tombs, and a sizeable enclosure called Takht-i ṭāvūs, point to the sporadic presence of semi-nomadic groups at least in the 19th-20th centuries.
Drawing from this Persian work and from Arabic medieval cookery books, this essay connects the physical qualities of drinks and associated etiquettes of consumption to the materiality of surviving objects. Still raisin drinks were ladled from large metal bowls into smaller ones. Earthenware sphero-conical vessels, perhaps a group among those resembling pinecones, were used individually, to gulp down the foam of effervescent drinks.
Throughout its activity, the Brummer Gallery in New York does not appear to have prioritized the arts from the regions situated to the south and east of Europe and in North Africa. Of the 14,000 object cards in the Brummer Gallery Records, only about 5% belong to Western Asian cultures. Nonetheless, noteworthy objects from Egypt, Syria, Southwestern Arabia, Anatolia, Iraq, Iran, and India—most notably those in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met), the Freer Gallery, and the Baltimore Museum of Art—are associated with the gallery’s activity. Referred to as “highlights” or “masterpieces,” such objects have become ubiquitous images in popular and scholarly publications, defining the perception of these arts.1 Joseph Brummer collected objects from this region for the Paris gallery from 1909,2 and in 1911–13 his brothers Imre and Ernest were also exposed to a diversity of cultures, be it during their long stays in Egypt as buyers, or Ernest’s studies at the École du Louvre and the Sorbonne.3 Imre’s first travel to New York in 1914 ensued in the presentation of an “Assyrian” plate “w/ figures of two people”4 to the Met—the earliest recorded offer of sale from the Brummers in the museum archives. Although this specific deal did not go through, fruitful transactions with the Met concerning ancient Near Eastern and Islamic art objects followed.5 By 1948, after Joseph’s passing, the Brummer Gallery in New York comprised a “Persian room,” which included at least two large wall-cases loaded with objects from West Asia carefully displayed on shelves, six free-standing cases containing a single object—an aesthetic approach reserved for pre-Islamic objects with sculptural qualities—, as well as an Achaemenid relief from Persepolis hanging on the wall (Figures 10.1a–c).6
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00934690.2023.2258479
This paper presents an overview of the site and remains of Istakhr as documented by the joint Iranian-Italian Archaeological Mission at Istakhr between 2011 and 2015, a map with the archaeological indicators recorded on the terrain, and a detailed list of those indicators. The new data provides for provisional reflections on the diachronic development of the settlement. No evidence has emerged of the pre-Sasanian history of the site. The walled town may have had up to seven or ten gates. During the 9th-10th centuries, a dense settlement is attested as having stood within and beyond the walled town (at least to the south and on two small mounds to the east). The 11th century seems to have seen a reduction in size of the occupation, although a more precise dating of some ceramic wares in the future may prove the contrary. In the 13-15th centuries, continuous human presence is only attested in a small area to the north within the walls, and possibly on the northeastern mound. Porcelain fragments, stone heaps that may be tombs, and a sizeable enclosure called Takht-i ṭāvūs, point to the sporadic presence of semi-nomadic groups at least in the 19th-20th centuries.
Draws on new and updated use of historical sources
Opens new paths in the research on magic beliefs, religion, astronomy, the concept of craftsmanship versus artistry, interaction between rulers and elites, ethno-religious and ethno-cultural diversity and emigration of people
Case studies on the treatment of art objects (the oldest extant Shahnama, and a unique stucco panel) show innovations in conservation practices and set new strategies in dealing with restored objects
Includes a comprehensive comparison of Seljuq and Ghaznavid titulature: a key tool for any kingship-related research in the fields of history, epigraphy, archaeology and art history
Rising from nomadic origins as Turkish tribesmen, the powerful and culturally prolific Seljuqs and their successor states dominated vast lands extending from Central Asia to the eastern Mediterranean from the eleventh to the fourteenth century.
Supported by colour images, charts, and maps, this volume examines how under Seljuq rule, migrations of people and the exchange and synthesis of diverse traditions – including Turkmen, Perso-Arabo-Islamic, Byzantine, Armenian, Crusader and other Christian cultures – accompanied architectural patronage, advances in science and technology and a great flowering of culture within the realm. It also explores how shifting religious beliefs, ideologies of authority and lifestyle in Seljuq times influenced cultural and artistic production, urban and rural architecture, monumental inscriptions and royal titulature, and practices of religion and magic. It also presents today’s challenges and new approaches to preserving the material heritage of this vastly accomplished and influential civilization.
Beginning with an historical overview of the empire, from its early advances into Iran and northern Iraq to the spread of its dominion into Anatolia and northern Syria, Court and Cosmos illuminates the splendor of Seljuq court life. This aura of luxury extended to a sophisticated new elite, as both sultans and city dwellers acquired dazzling glazed ceramics and metalwork lavishly inlaid with silver, copper, and gold. Advances in science and technology found parallels in a flourishing interest in the arts of the book, underscoring the importance the Seljuqs placed on the scholarly and literary life. At the same time, the unrest that accompanied warfare between the Seljuqs and their enemies as well as natural disasters and unexplainable celestial phenomena led people to seek solace in magic and astrology, which found expression in objects adorned with zodiacal and talismanic imagery. These popular beliefs existed alongside devout adherence to Islam, as exemplified by exquisitely calligraphed Qur’ans and an array of building inscriptions and tombstones bearing verses from the holy book.
The great age of the Seljuqs was one that celebrated magnificence, be it of this world or in the celestial realm. By revealing the full breadth of their artistic achievement, Court and Cosmos provides an invaluable record of the Seljuqs’ contribution to the cultural heritage of the Islamic world.
Table of contents
Directors' Foreword
Thomas P. Campbell
Acknowledgments
Lenders to the Exhibition
Preface
Note to the Reader
Introduction
The Great Age of the Seljuqs
A. C. S. Peacock
Catalogue
Sultans of the East and the West
The Courtly Cycle
Science, Medicine, and Technology
Astrology, Magic, and the World of Beasts
Religion and the Literary Life
The Funerary Arts
Notes
Bibliography
Glossary
Index
Photography Credits