Fatimid Cosmopolitanism

GREGORY BILOTTO, an art historian and archaeologist, is currently associate curator of early Islamic art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and an associate lecturer at The Institute of Ismaili Studies.FARHAD DAFTARY is Director Emeritus and a governor at The Institute of Ismaili Studies. An authority on Ismaili studies, he has written and edited 27 books in this field, including The Isma’ilis (1990; 2007), and he is also the general editor of several academic series.SHAINOOL JIWA is Associate Professor at The Institute of Ismaili Studies. She is a specialist in Fatimid studies, a field in which she has published and taught extensively.

• List of ContributorsPreface by Gregory BilottoList of AbbreviationsI. Fatimid Religion and Statecraft1. Ismaili Neoplatonism: The Cosmopolitan Legacy of the Fatimid Ismaili Da?waKhalil Andani 2. Who was Nasir-i Khusraw’s Patron in Yumgan? Notes on the Political Vectors of the Late Fatimid Da?waDaniel Beben3. The Reign of the Fatimid Imam-caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah: Historiographical ConsiderationsShainool Jiwa4. The Fatimid Kitab al-Majalis wa’l-musayarat as Responsa to Internal Controversy and External PropagandaHasan al-Khoee5. (Re)-making time, (Re)-making place: Some Considerations on Early Fatimid Ta?wil and Sacred SpaceJamel A. Velji6. Fatimid Public Pronouncements: Messages from a Shi?i Dynasty to a Cosmopolitan Empire Paul E. Walker II. The Fatimid Legacy Reconsidered1. The Modern Rediscovery of the Fatimid Artistic and Architectural Legacy in EgyptDina Ishak Bakhoum2. A Dynasty for All Seasons: The Fatimids in Modern and Contemporary Cosmopolitanism DiscoursesDelia Cortese3. Wladimir Ivanow and Fatimid StudiesFarhad Daftary4. The Untold Problem of Ibn al-Haytham’s Scientific Legacy in Islamic Art HistoryValerie Gonzalez5. The Fatimids and the Indian Ocean: Evidence from the Book of CuriositiesYossef RapoportIII. Fatimid Ceremony and Symbolism1. The Fatimid Crescent: Understanding a Complex Religio-Political Cosmos through Lunar SymbolismAli Asgar Alibhai2. The Power of Six – Astral, Solomonic and Imami Imagery in Fatimid ArtBernard O’Kane3. The Cosmopolitan Ecosystem of the Festival Costumes of 515/1122Paula Sanders4. Back to Black Background: The Rediscovery of Black Background and the Aesthetic of Darkness – A Global Visual Spectacle during the Fatimid AgeAvinoam Shalem5. ‘Displaying the Hidden: Fatimid Public Texts in Floriated Kufic’ Fatimid Cosmopolitanism: History, Material Culture, Politics and ReligionYasser TabbaaIV. Art and Archeology1. A Fatimid MermaidDoris Behrens-Abouseif and Juan de Lara2. ‘The Work is Blessed, Unique’: The Fatimid Silver Casket of Sadaqa b. YusufAnna Contadini3. Fatimid Jewellery Hoards from Palestine in the Light of the Cairo Geniza DocumentsAyala Lester4. The Fatimid Rock Crystal Ewers – Innovation or Variation? A Historical and Iconographical InvestigationMarcus Pilz5. Seventeen Years of Archeological Excavations in Cairo: The Ismaili capital city and Fustat during the Fatimid periodStephane Pradines6. Reassessing Fatimid Figuralism: Ettinghausen, Grabar and a Medieval Lustre Workshop[e1] Jennifer A. PruitSelect BibliographyCreditsIndex