June 2020

Valentina Laviola, Islamic Metalwork from Afghanistan (9th-13th Century). The Documentation of the IsMEO Italian Archaeological Mission (Series Maior XV/ Serie Orientale Roma 24, 2020). Napoli - Roma, 2020. ISBN: 978-88-6719-191-8

ABSTRACT

The volume presents the Islamic metalwork collections documented by the IsMEO Italian Archaeological Mission in Afghanistan (1957-1978), largely still unpublished today and sadly lost for the majority. The approximately 439 artefacts and fragments, datable to the chronological range between the 9th and 13th century, attest to a rich and varied production that deserves to be part of the scholarly discussion on Islamic medieval metalwork. The study offers a catalogue organised in 14 functional classes as well as a morphological, decorative and epigraphic analysis of the artefacts. Moreover, the analysis of the finds emerged from the excavations in Ghazni and those allegedely coming from the same site confirms the role played by the city as an important production centre.