All the Goods of the Earth. Making and Marketing in the pre-Mongol Marketplace

Islamic legal sources have received little attention from art historians when discussing the production, consumption, and reception of objects produced in the medieval Islamic world. The Ḥisba of al-Saqaṭī, the Kitāb fī ādāb al-ḥisba, written and compiled in Málaga at the end of the 11th century, allows us to dive into Málaga's marketplace and its products.

In this final presentation of my project, I will demonstrate the potential of ḥisba manuals to shed light on textile manufacture, loom technology, and the social status of the weaver in the medieval Islamic world. The Ḥisba of al-Saqaṭī not only reveals previously unknown textile terminology relating to the medieval drawloom, but it also brings to light the shared knowledge traditions of weaving, poetry, and music. It presents a rare moment in which a combination of textual documents and material evidence helps to locate the historical fact.