Books by Umberto Bongianino
https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-manuscript-tradition-of-the-islamic-west.html
Articles by Umberto Bongianino
Arabica, 2024
Based on the close examination of 32 manuscripts produced in Kairouan between the 9th and the 11t... more Based on the close examination of 32 manuscripts produced in Kairouan between the 9th and the 11th centuries, this article reassesses the content and function of their paratext and interrogates some diagnostic features of their scripts and page layout. In the first part, we demonstrate that some dated notes can refer to auditions and readings that occurred decades before the production of the manuscripts on which they appear, and therefore cannot be used as termini ante quem for dating them. In the second part, we discuss some key palaeographic parameters for a better understanding of Ifrīqī scripts, their origin, and their development, with a view to establishing a set of reliable criteria for a more accurate dating and contextualisation of this little-known material.
Regime Change: New Horizons in Islamic Art and Visual Culture, 2024
Journal of Material Cultures in the Muslim World, 2023
This article examines the origin and spread of Maghribi ṯuluṯ, a distinctive epigraphic style emp... more This article examines the origin and spread of Maghribi ṯuluṯ, a distinctive epigraphic style employed on buildings and inscribed artefacts in Northwest Africa and al-Andalus, from the late fifth/eleventh century onwards. The rise of Maghribi ṯuluṯ is part of a wider phenomenon that saw curvilinear scripts adopted in contexts and media previously dominated by angular “Kufic” scripts throughout the Islamic world, from Ghazna to Marrakesh. However, the circumstances of this epigraphic revolution differed from region to region, as did the techniques and stylistic features of the new curvilinear inscriptions. The development of Maghribi ṯuluṯ was the result of influences coming from the Eastern Mediterranean, assimilated and transformed in different ways within the cultural and artisanal milieux of Norman Sicily, Khurasanid Tunis, and the Almoravid Empire further west. This article considers the possible channels through which Maghribi ṯuluṯ spread across these regions – with an emphasis on chancery documents and practices – and how the Almohads ultimately transformed this script into a dynastic “brand” with ideological undertones.
Le iscrizioni in arabo del palazzo di Ruggero II a Messina, 2023
Boletín del Museo Arqueológico Nacional, 2023
Se publica una escápula de Capra hircus inédita del MAN con inscripción árabe coránica (Q. II: 25... more Se publica una escápula de Capra hircus inédita del MAN con inscripción árabe coránica (Q. II: 255), escrita a tinta en caligrafía magrebí, de probable uso talismánico. Se data no antes de mediados del siglo x, hipotéticamente a partir de fines del siglo xi hasta mediados del siglo xiii.
Inscriptions of the Medieval Islamic World, ed. Bernard O'Kane, A. C. S. Peacock, and Mark Muehlhaeusler, 2023
Nouvelles Chroniques du manuscrit au Yémen, 2023
This note presents a rediscovered manuscript from the Islamic West today in the Dār al-maḫṭūṭāt, ... more This note presents a rediscovered manuscript from the Islamic West today in the Dār al-maḫṭūṭāt, Sanaa. It is a fair copy of the third volume of the Kitāb al-Aġānī, probably produced in al-Andalus in the late twelfth century. The inscriptions on its title page allow us to connect it with the library of the Almohad prince Abū Zakariyāʾ Yaḥyā (fl. 585/1190) and two subsequent owners. It can be argued that the manuscript was kept in Marrakesh, possibly for centuries, before being brought to Yemen. That may have happened before the mid-eighteenth century.
Manuscript and Text Cultures, 2023
The Mukhtaṣar al-ʿAyn by Abū Bakr Muḥammad al-Zubaydī (d. 989) is the earliest Arabic dictionary ... more The Mukhtaṣar al-ʿAyn by Abū Bakr Muḥammad al-Zubaydī (d. 989) is the earliest Arabic dictionary to have survived from the medieval Islamic West. This article discusses an early manuscript of the work that was copied and illuminated in 1124, most likely in Valencia, for the library of a wealthy patron or institution. The manuscript’s colophon casts new light on its transmission history, and a close analysis of its ‘page architecture’ reveals both how the book was used and the symbolic and aesthetic functions it fulfilled.
https://mtc-journal.org/index.php/mtc/article/view/27/61
Imagining the Divine: Art in Religions of Late Antiquity Across Eurasia, 2021
Imagining the Divine: Exploring Art in Religions of Late Antiquity across Eurasia, 2021
Download for free here: https://britishmuseum.iro.bl.uk/concern/books/a9b7f9c6-9b53-4eaf-a6ba-03b... more Download for free here: https://britishmuseum.iro.bl.uk/concern/books/a9b7f9c6-9b53-4eaf-a6ba-03b8eb8bb65f
This groundbreaking volume brings together scholars of the art and archaeology of late antiquity (c. 200−1000), across cultures and regions reaching from India to Iberia, to discuss how objects can inform our understanding of religions. During this period major transformations are visible in the production of religious art and in the relationships between people and objects in religious contexts across the ancient world. These shifts in behaviour and formalising of iconographies are visible in art associated with numerous religious traditions including, but not limited to, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, religions of the Roman Empire, and paganism in northern Europe. Studies of these religions and their material culture, however, have been shaped by Eurocentric and post-Reformation Christian frameworks that prioritised Scripture and minimised the capacity of images and objects to hold religious content. Despite recent steps to incorporate objects, much academic discourse, especially in comparative religion, remains stubbornly textual. This volume therefore seeks to explore the ramifications of placing objects first and foremost in the comparative study of religions in late antiquity, and to consider the potential for interdisciplinary conversation to reinvigorate the field.
The Maghrib in the Mashriq: Knowledge, Travel and Identity, 2021
During the so-called 'Islamic Golden Age', cities like Alexandria, Cairo, Mecca, Damascus, and Je... more During the so-called 'Islamic Golden Age', cities like Alexandria, Cairo, Mecca, Damascus, and Jerusalem were home to significant Maghribi communities whose members made important contributions to the local intellectual debates and the transmission of knowledge. This continuous presence becomes all the more visible from the 12th century onwards, thanks to the survival of numerous manuscripts copied in the Mashriq by Maghribi scholars who proudly clung to the writing style and practices of their homeland. This article presents some of these manuscripts and discusses the contexts in which they circulated. As shown by material and textual evidence, the use of Maghribi scripts represented a key factor in the promulgation of the Andalusi identity throughout the Islamic world, and the communities of Maghribi expatriates in the eastern Mediterranean were perceived as a cohesive group also because of the distinctive appearance of the manuscripts they produced.
Journal of Islamic Manuscripts, 2020
This article examines and contextualises a small Quranic manuscript, copied in al-Andalus in 533/... more This article examines and contextualises a small Quranic manuscript, copied in al-Andalus in 533/1138-9, whose importance has so far gone unrecognised. Among its many interesting features are: its early date; its lavish illumination; its colophon and the information contained therein; its system of notation and textual division; its use of different calligraphic styles, including Maghribī thuluth; and a series of didactic notes written at the beginning and end of the codex. Presented in the appendix is an updated list of the extant Qurʾāns in Maghribī scripts dated to before 600/1203-4, aimed at encouraging the digitisation, publication, and comparative study of this still largely uncharted material. The advancement of scholarship on the arts of the book, the transmission of the Qurʾān, and the consumption of Quranic manuscripts in the Islamic West depends upon the analysis of these and many other surviving codices and fragments, related to Cod. arab. 4 of the Bavarian State Library and its context of production.
Al-Qanṭara, 2017
Dans cet article on analyse les graphies utilisées par les copistes andalous qui se consacrèrent ... more Dans cet article on analyse les graphies utilisées par les copistes andalous qui se consacrèrent à la production de manuscrits coraniques entre le Ve/XIe et le VIe/XIIe siècle. On examine aussi la transformation qui se produisit pendant cette époque dans la forme, l’aspect, et la conception du muṣḥaf en péninsule Ibérique. On démontrera que la notion de « graphies coraniques » en Occident islamique est tellement fluide qu’elle devient insaisissable pour la période qui va de l’introduction des graphies cursives dans les manuscrits du Coran à l’apogée de la domination almoravide. On tentera aussi d’expliciter comment tous les traits calligraphiques de ces styles dérivent des écritures livresques de la même époque. Enfin, on traitera de l’activité de quelques copistes andalous de cette période, de leurs modèles esthétiques et statut social, et du contexte culturel qui émerge des aspects matériaux des manuscrits qu’ils produisirent.
Journal of Transcultural Medieval Studies, 2017
The creation of the Norman kingdom of Sicily was complemented by the development of a unique cour... more The creation of the Norman kingdom of Sicily was complemented by the development of a unique court milieu encompassing elements from the Latin West, Byzantium, and the Islamic world. The churches of Palermo, in particular, became the focus of a sophisticated project of experimentation and combination of different artistic traditions, to convey an artificial image of equilibrium among élites and communities of three different denominations: Latin, Greek-Byzantine, and Arabo-Christian. Through the creation and subversion of architectural boundaries, the promotion of certain forms of visual hybridity, the transgression of artistic media, and the articulation of new liminal spaces, the Norman rulers transformed their churches and cathedrals into an ideal stage for performing their liturgy of kingship, and conveying the message of a multi-faceted religious system unified and harmonized only through the king, as supreme head of the Church and vicar of Christ.
Journal of Islamic Archaeology 2, 2, 2015
This is a reconsideration of the sole fully excavated palatial structure built by the Fatimids (9... more This is a reconsideration of the sole fully excavated palatial structure built by the Fatimids (909–1171 CE): the qaṣr of Ajdābiya in Cyrenaica (modern Libya). The structure, excavated by Abdulhamid Abdussaid in the 1960s and by David Whitehouse in the early 1970s, is the perfect example of how a small provincial site, generally overlooked by scholars, can nonetheless yield precious information on “royal” architectural patronage, provided the archaeological data are combined with a close scrutiny of primary sources and a re-evaluation of other local, equally neglected monuments and finds. The aim of this article is not to present new archaeological data, but rather to serve as an update of the material published forty years ago in the light of recent scholar- ship on a number of related topics—including new editions of primary sources—while awaiting the publication of Whitehouse’s final excavation report.
Faenza 2017/1, 2017
In the first part of this article I outlined the historical and technological background to the p... more In the first part of this article I outlined the historical and technological background to the production of “Fusṭāṭ Fāṭimid sgraffito” wares (“FFS”) between the 11th and 12th centuries, trough a selection of material now kept in the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza (from the so-called “Martin Collection”) and in other important museum collections worldwide. In the second part I discussed the technical, morphological, and stylistic aspects of “FFS” within a plausible chronological framework, based on the same material. In this third and final part, I will concentrate on the evidence for trade of “FFS” within Egypt and across the Mediterranean, and on the impact that this distinctive production had on the Syrian and Iranian incised frit-wares of the 12th century and beyond.
Faenza 2015/2, 2015
In the first part of this article I attempted to outline the historical and technological backgro... more In the first part of this article I attempted to outline the historical and technological background to the production of “Fusṭāṭ Fāṭimid sgraffito” wares (“FFS”) between the 11th and 12th centuries, trough a selection of material now kept in the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza (from the so-called “Martin Collection”) and in other important museum collections worldwide. Based on the same material, I shall discuss here the technical, morphological, and stylistic aspects of “FFS” within a plausible chronological framework. The third part of this article, still to be published, will deal with the trade of “FFS” within Egypt and across the Mediterranean, and with the impact that this distinctive production had on the Syrian and Iranian incised frit-wares of the 12th century and beyond.
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Books by Umberto Bongianino
Articles by Umberto Bongianino
https://mtc-journal.org/index.php/mtc/article/view/27/61
This groundbreaking volume brings together scholars of the art and archaeology of late antiquity (c. 200−1000), across cultures and regions reaching from India to Iberia, to discuss how objects can inform our understanding of religions. During this period major transformations are visible in the production of religious art and in the relationships between people and objects in religious contexts across the ancient world. These shifts in behaviour and formalising of iconographies are visible in art associated with numerous religious traditions including, but not limited to, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, religions of the Roman Empire, and paganism in northern Europe. Studies of these religions and their material culture, however, have been shaped by Eurocentric and post-Reformation Christian frameworks that prioritised Scripture and minimised the capacity of images and objects to hold religious content. Despite recent steps to incorporate objects, much academic discourse, especially in comparative religion, remains stubbornly textual. This volume therefore seeks to explore the ramifications of placing objects first and foremost in the comparative study of religions in late antiquity, and to consider the potential for interdisciplinary conversation to reinvigorate the field.
https://mtc-journal.org/index.php/mtc/article/view/27/61
This groundbreaking volume brings together scholars of the art and archaeology of late antiquity (c. 200−1000), across cultures and regions reaching from India to Iberia, to discuss how objects can inform our understanding of religions. During this period major transformations are visible in the production of religious art and in the relationships between people and objects in religious contexts across the ancient world. These shifts in behaviour and formalising of iconographies are visible in art associated with numerous religious traditions including, but not limited to, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, religions of the Roman Empire, and paganism in northern Europe. Studies of these religions and their material culture, however, have been shaped by Eurocentric and post-Reformation Christian frameworks that prioritised Scripture and minimised the capacity of images and objects to hold religious content. Despite recent steps to incorporate objects, much academic discourse, especially in comparative religion, remains stubbornly textual. This volume therefore seeks to explore the ramifications of placing objects first and foremost in the comparative study of religions in late antiquity, and to consider the potential for interdisciplinary conversation to reinvigorate the field.
Three generations have elapsed since French colonial scholars such as Alfred Bel and Gaston Deverdun established the "canon" of Moroccan epigraphy, a discipline which is still largely framed in their terms: a slavish imitation of Andalusi models for the medieval period, and an irreversible decline following the disappearance of such models, from the fifteenth century onwards. However, a fresh look at neglected inscriptions from the Almohad, Marinid, Saadian, and Alawite periods yields undisputable evidence of the vitality and inventiveness of the local epigraphic tradition. From the foundation inscriptions of the eastern fountain in the courtyard of the Qarawiyyīn Mosque (599/1203), to the embroidered and brocaded verses found on 19th century tomb covers for Muslim saints, the aesthetic qualities of some Moroccan public texts challenge received notions of stylistic influences and artisanal practices. The CallFront project provides an important forum for reassessing the ontology of Moroccan epigraphic styles, the visual messages of inscriptions, and the mentality of their makers.
Although square Kufic clearly originated in the Islamic East, this style was adopted in the Maghrib to fulfill new functions and convey innovative messages, such as foundational texts extolling Hafsid patronage, or pious formulae specific to the religious context of the region. The main aim of this paper is to add a new element to our understanding of the arts and architecture of the medieval Maghrib, demonstrating how, in the propagation of doctrinal and ideological principles, the placement and configuration of certain epigraphic texts mattered just as much as their content. In particular, we shall argue that the appearance of the formula “Barakat Muḥammad” on several buildings commissioned by the Marinid sultan Abū al-Ḥasan (r. 1331–1351) should be understood as part of his attempts to capitalize on certain popular forms of cult and remembrance of the Prophet, which were becoming increasingly common among his subjects. A close examination of the intellectual milieu and religious currents in the Marinid realm demonstrates that these two words must have meant much more than their literal translation (“Muḥammad’s blessing”) to their contemporaries. In fact, we believe that these ostentatious inscriptions in square Kufic reflected the sultan’s espousal of certain Sufi doctrines mainly followed by the shurafāʾ or descendants of Muḥammad, in keeping with the Marinids’ endeavors to officialize the celebration of the Mawlid, the Prophet’s birthday, throughout their domains.
However, the comparative approach is perhaps more useful as a means of casting the cultural specificity of each tradition in higher relief. The manuscripts of early medieval Europe display a tendency towards stylistic diversification based on local concerns, while in the Islamic world the tendency is towards uniformity, arising out of global aspirations. Each tradition also adopted differing tactics for addressing and adapting their shared inheritance of classical culture. Consequently, we can find wildly different approaches in conceiving the relationships among alphabet and text, image and ornament, and material and spiritual. Ultimately, this can be explained by the different political and ideological aims of the Christian Church and the Islamic Caliphate, and by the different role of the religious elites vis-à-vis challenges such as conversion, the promotion of orthodoxy, and the expression of authority. While the two traditions might be contemporaneous in an absolute sense, they can be better framed within a ‘relative chronology’, stressing the extraordinarily rapid rise of Islam and the codification of an ‘official’ mode of treating Qur’anic texts, as opposed to the more nuanced, slow-paced, and composite nature of the Christian tradition of illuminating the Word.
The project will investigate comprehensively and systematically the coexistence of the diverse confessional, ethnic and linguistic communities of the island of Sicily under Norman and Hohenstaufen rule — Arabic-speaking Muslims and Jews, Greek Christians, and Latin Christians.
It will investigate:
• the legal foundations upon which the coexistence of the subject communities rested;
• the nature, extent and results of cultural, linguistic and social interactions between them;
• and variation in the above, from time to time c. 1060 – c. 1266, and from place to place within the island.
The ambitious objective is to create the fundamental tools to study, and to begin to write, the history of the subject communities of Norman Sicily from the bottom up, using documentary rather than narrative sources, and illustrating as far as possible the full variety in space and time.
The project will do this by making new critical editions of all of the administrative and legal documents for Norman Sicily, in the three principal administrative languages — Arabic, Greek and Latin. These texts will populate a database, to which further data from the non-documentary sources will be added. The database will then be used to generate a series of powerful electronic research tools, which will be both the means to meet the ends of this particular project, and ends in themselves that will revolutionise the future study of all aspects of the history of Norman Sicily.
At the end of the project, a series of summative studies will document, analyse and discuss different aspects of coexistence and popular multiculturalism in Norman Sicily, and set the case of Sicily in the wider Mediterranean context.
What is distinctive about this project is that not only the publication of its research objectives, but also the tools that it will create in order to achieve them, will revolutionise the future study of all aspects of the cultural, economic and social history of Norman Sicily.
For further information visit <http://krc.orient.ox.ac.uk/documult/index.php/en/>
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