Antique Dealing and Creative Reuse in Cairo and Damascus 1850-1890 - (Leiden Studies in Islam and Society) by Mercedes Volait (Paperback)

About the Book

This book examines the commodification of Middle Eastern antiques during the Tanzimat period through the social life of typical objects, the agencies and subjectivities involved in their trade, and the impact achieved on interior decoration in Egypt, Europe and America.

Book Synopsis

The commodification of Islamic antiques intensified in the late Ottoman Empire, an age of domestic reform and increased European interference following the Tanzimat (reorganisation) of 1839. Mercedes Volait examines the social life of typical objects moving from Cairo and Damascus to Paris, London, and beyond, uncovers the range of agencies and subjectivities involved in the trade of architectural salvage and historic handicraft, and traces impacts on private interiors, through creative reuse and Revival design, in Egypt, Europe and America. By devoting attention to both local and global engagements with Middle Eastern tangible heritage, the present volume invites to look anew at Orientalism in art and interior design, the canon of Islamic architecture and the translocation of historic works of art.

Review Quotes

"With Antique Dealing and Creative Reuse in Cairo and Damascus 1850-1890, Volait has produced a truly ground-breaking study that should be required reading not only for scholars of Islamic art and architecture, but also for those of broader material culture studies. Its findings require us to approach questions of global material entanglement with greater nuance, even if we do not necessarily arrive at the same interpretive conclusions that Volait does. This is a book that will undoubtedly inspire a new generation of students to emulate the author's rigorous research methodologies and think more critically about cultural appropriation and exchange.." Ellen Kenney, in: Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide 21/3 (2022)

About the Author

Mercedes Volait, Ph.D. (1993), Aix-Marseille University, is Research Professor at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris. She has numerous publications on art, architecture and photography in Modern Egypt, as well as Islamic art collecting in Europe.