'Deus Artifex' or why we should all be iconographers? Perspectives on the interlacement of multiple media in the Qaraquyunlu and Aqquyunlu Turkmen realms of the 15th Century

Speaker: Dr habil. Georg Leube (Islamic Studies, University of Bayreuth, Germany)

Chair: Professor Scott Redford

Abstract

The 15th-Century realms of the Qaraquyunlu and Aqquyunlu between eastern Anatolia and western Iran defy some of the most influential interpretative categories in the cultural history of the Islamicate world.

With little exaggeration, the performative self-representation of these dynasties is simultaneously sunnī and shīʿī, Arabic, Persian, and Turkic, nomadic and sedentary, antinomist and reformist, centralized and decentralized, etc. While not a trained art historian himself, Dr habil. Georg Leube suggests that the art-historical method of iconography enables the joint analysis of these multiple traditions as a coherent representational culture.

This seminar presents ‘relational iconography’ as an approach integrating narrative and material sources for courtly representation. It also explores ‘art-historical-proper’ examples from the ‘Turkmen’ realms to suggest that a relational and iconographical approach can productively engage with the disparate and fragmentary sources for the cultural history of this period.

Speaker

Dr habil. Georg Leube serves as Akademischer Oberrat (untenured associate professor / senior lecturer) in Islamic Studies at the University of Bayreuth, Germany. His current work engages with monumental epigraphy and governance in the Qaraquyunlu and Aqquyunlu ‘Turkmen’ realms of the fifteenth century CE with special emphasis on the integration of Armenian-language sources and discourses in Islamicate cultural studies.

Event enquiries: rw51@soas.ac.uk

Image: Georg Leube