The World at Chinggis’ Disposal: Approaching the Universal in the Arts of Mongol East Asia

Speaker: Shane McCausland, SOAS University of London

Early in the Secret History of the Mongols, a Mongol grandee tells Chinggis (r. 1206-27) withoutexaggeration that his having pacified ‘all our people’ and unified ‘all other peoples’ is what made him khan. But what was the look and feel of having the world at his disposal in this way – to us, the heritage of visual and material cultures from the Mongol age? This lecture examines some of the ways that universal rule under an ‘oceanic’ sovereign, i.e., Chinggis, translated into supra-regional aesthetics and art forms. It asks how these arts would then change, notably under Chinggis’ grandson Khubilai (r. 1260-94), who rebranded the homeland khanate as the Great Yuan state (1271-1368), and under Khubilai’s successors, after the Mongols encountered limits to world conquest in thwarted maritime invasions of Japan and Java.

Location: 807 Schermerhorn Hall

Registration: To attend this event in-person, please email mo2486@columbia.edu