Sultaniyya, mausoleum of Sultan Uljaytu, detail of caults

Once paper was available in the Islamic lands, artists and artisans eventually came to exploit its possibilities, but they were somewhat slower to do so than were writers, mathematicians, geographers, and merchants. Before paper, artists and artisans worked directly with their chosen materials—clay, bronze, cloth, brick, plaster—relying on experience and practice to do what we would...

In the fall of 1253 the Great Khan Mongke, grandson of Chingiz Khan and supreme ruler of the Mongols in China, dispatched his brother Hulagu at the head of an army against the Isma’ilis in northern Iran and the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad. Hulagu moved speedily across Iran,...