Going Global: The Spread of Gold Thread Production in the Mongol Period (13th-14th centuries)

Figured textiles woven with gold thread were the definitive luxury product of the Mongol Empire. Gold textiles were tailored into court dress across Asia, fashioned into panels to decorate the tents of Mongol Khans, used as diplomatic gifts, and traded as luxury commodities between the Mongol territories, West Asia, and the Mediterranean. Desire for gold-woven textiles caused a spread of weaving technology and production techniques throughout the Mongol Empire and into the Mediterranean. This paper examines the impact of the Mongol Empire on the proliferation of the manufacture of metallic threads made using an animal substrate used to weave gold textiles. Mongol rule across much of Eurasia in this period caused the rapid spread of textile technologies, alongside the propagation of specific designs and patterns, due to several factors: the forcible resettlement of artisans from one part of the empire to another; regular contact between East and West Asian Mongol courts (the Yuan and the Ilkhanate); and an increase in international gifting and trade more broadly. While metallic threads were produced across Asia and in the Mediterranean region prior to the Mongol period using either a paper or animal substrate, the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries saw a marked increase in the volume of threads produced using animal substrate in these regions. This surge in production directly correlates to the rise in demand for gold-woven textiles in the style of those produced in Mongol territories and connects to issues of the international exchange of technology, arts, and culture.