Speaking’ Silver in the Islamic World and the Silk Road Network

Pacific Time

Silver objects from the early Islamic and Classical periods (7th to 14th centuries CE) evoke vibrant traditions of metalworking and contain traces of their global exchanges within the Islamic World and beyond. Not least, Islamic silver has been associated with people, materials, and landscapes connected by the Silk Road network. Ranging from coins and jewellery to high-status metalware, Islamic silver objects often contain inscriptions, most notably in Arabic. These inscriptions frequently reference religious verses, poetry, or proverbs, and can also identify information about the workshop, artist, patron, and owner. In this presentation, Professor Knutson will examine examples of epigraphic Islamic silver in order to explore the concept of “speaking objects” that scholars have used as a metaphor to give voice to inscribed Islamic materials. She suggests that “speaking objects” offers an under-explored framework for new materialist approaches to the study of Islamic silver, in all its forms, and can offer productive insights into both human and nonhuman networks in the Islamic World.