Venetian Treasures

In the Autumn of 1271, Marco Polo set off from Venice onthe long journey east to Kublai Khan’s summer palace at Xanadu on theMongolian steppe. Polo’s expedition had two objects. The first was to convertthe Mongol Emperor to Christianity. This was not as unlikely a proposition as itsounded. There were many Eastern Christians among Mongol ranks; indeed KublaiKhan’s half-brother, Hulagu, had a Nestorian Christian mother. When Polo’sfather and uncle, Maffeo and Niccolo, had met the Great Khan three years earlieron their first journey eastwards, the Emperor had shown great interest in theWestern form of Christianity, and had given them a letter addressed to the Pope.In this the Khan asked for "a hundred persons of the Christian faith,intelligent men, acquainted with the Seven Arts, and able clearly to prove toidolaters that the Law of Christ was best, and that all other religions werefalse and nought." The brothers said that if they could provide this, KublaiKhan, and all his subjects, might well convert.

The Khan had also asked the Polo brothers to bring to himwhat he had heard was the most sacred of all Christian relics: a sample of theholy oil from the lamps that burned at the reputed site of the Resurrection, theHoly Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which was widely believed to possess miraculousproperties.

The Papal Legate in the embattled Crusader Kingdom ofAcre, to whom the Polos had delivered their letter, understood that this was acrucial chance for Christendom. The Mongol Empire ranged from the Euphrates tothe Pacific; it was the largest Empire the world had ever seen. If it could beturned into a Christian Empire, then surely the days of Islamic power would benumbered, and the Crusader kingdom saved. So the Legate gave permission for thePolos to take a vial of holy oil East with them, and sent them off with, if notone hundred, then at least with two "intelligent men of the Christianfaith," both Friars, who were given extraordinary powers of ordination andabsolution.

But the Polos also had a second more hard-headed andless idealistic object in setting off on such a daunting journey to the edge ofthe known world. For the Polos were not professional diplomats, but insteadambitious Venetian traders. They hoped to use their expedition to make money andbring back solid information about further mercantile possibilities in the East.

Such financial concerns are clearly evident in MarcoPolo’s Travels. This celebrated butnow little read book is in fact a surprisinglydry and factual guide to the commerce of the mainly Islamic lands through whichthe Polos travelled: Seljuk Turkey, Ilkhanate Persia, Afghan Central Asia and theIslamic Silk Road cities that edged the Gobi desert, before addressing the tradeof China proper and that of Kublai Khan’s great capital of Khan Balik, nowBeijing. The Travels contain lists ofgoods available on the caravan routes, as well as advice on how to overcome thedifficulties on the way: where to stock up with provisions, where to keep an eyeout for robbers, and how to cross a desert. It is, in short, a book by amerchant for other merchants.

Forall the romantic topspin given to the book by Marco Polo's ghost writer, aGenoese troubadour named Rustichello, with whom Polo was later imprisoned inGenoa, and for all that the book was regarded as a compendium of marvels by hisamazed contemporaries (hence the name given to some of the manuscripts of the Travelssuch as Il Milione – a thousand thousand marvels- or Le Livre de Marveilles) Polo's book was in fact intended as anordinary merchant's manual, and was essentially very similar to other manuals ofthe same time, such as the Pratica della Mercatura of the Florentine,Francesco Pegolotti. Indeed of its type it is a very fine example.

Inthe event, the diplomatic side of the Polos expedition was an abject failure.The two Friars got no further than the coast of Asia Minor before fleeing backin panic to Acre, and Kublai Khan never converted to Christianity; instead someof his descendants, as well as all those of Hulagu, became Muslim. But the Polosdid succeed quite magnificently in their other object-to come back to Venice with more accurate and detailed information aboutthe trade of the Silk Route than was available at the time from any othersource, in either the Islamic or Christian worlds, all of which Polo dutifullyrecorded in the Travels.

ThePolos also made a great fortune, just as they had hoped and planned. Accordingto Gasparo Malipiero, a neighbour of the family, the three travellers arrivedback in Venice in rough Tartar clothing with ‘something of the Tartar in theirfaces.’ Everyone was horrified, but the three men went home and changed intonew robes, gave presents of cloth to their servants, and put on a banquet fortheir relatives. At the climax of the feast they stood up and in full view cutopen their old rags, revealing a mass of huge jewels sewed into the lining oftheir rough travelling clothes.

Remarkably,the gist of this story has recently been confirmed by radiocarbon datings fromarchaeological excavations of the old Polo property in Venice. These showed thatthe house was extensively rebuilt at the very time of Marco Polo’s return,indicating that he soon invested at least some of his massive trading profits inrebuilding and extending his family mansion.[1]

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Givenwhat Marco Polo symbolises for Venice--even its airport is named after him--itis entirely appropriate that the first exhibit one comes across in the wonderfulnew show at the Metropolitan Museum, Veniceand the Islamic World 828-1797--as well as the exhibition’s poster and thecover of its catalogue--is a magnificent 15^th century full pageillumination from the Bodleian Library’s copy of the Travelsentitled Marco Polo’s Departure fromVenice.Thethree Polos, dressed in their pink merchant’s attire, can be seen leading agroup of Venetian dignitaries past the Piazza San Marco along the Riva degliSchiavoni to the docks and the galleon anchored and waiting in the Venetianlagoon. In the lower righthand corner, Marco is seen again, sailing off on his ship, while on the lowerleft exotic animals--leopards, lions and a bear- prowl the rocky shorelinebeyond, indicative of the dangerous, exotic and unexplored regions to which thePolos were heading. 

Thestory of the Polos is a very Venetian one, for throughout the history of LaSerenissima, the lure of profits and hard-headed mercantile pragmatismconsistently overcome both religious prejudice and political idealism: PopeInnocent II was not the only Pontiff to complain about the way Venice always putits colonial and economic interests over the flag of Christendom. Instead,centuries of Venetian merchants comprehensively ignored intermittent Papal banson trade with the infidel, even when backed up by threats of excommunication. 

ForPolo was only one of many tens of thousands of Venetians who sailed East.Century after century, Venice remained the ‘liquid frontier’ between Islamand Christendom. Indeed as for much of its history it had no substantial landempire, its commercial viability entirely depended on links with the East: thehistory of Venice, as the exhibition well demonstrates, is a history of fortunesmade through trade with the Middle East and the wider Islamic world. OneVenetian diplomat put very simply the symbiotic position of Venice visa vis the Muslims: "Being merchants," he wrote, "we cannot livewithout them."

Nordid they attempt to. Venice concluded important trade agreements with MuslimGrenada, the Emirs of Morocco and the rulers of Seljuk Turkey. But theVenetian’s closest and most lucrative ally and trading partner was always theCairo-based Mamluks- the same regime whose armies, under Sultan Baibars (anex-slave once allegedly returned to the slave market on account of his unusualugliness) were in the process of snuffing out the last enclaves of the Crusaderson the coast of Palestine even as the Polos set off on their journey to theGreat Khan. 

Indeedone of the principal motives for the Venetians diverting the Fourth Crusade fromattacking Muslim Egypt to storming Christian Constantinople in 1204 was toprotect the extensive trading privileges that Venice enjoyed with the Mamluks:at the very moment the Venetian Doge Dandolo was negotiating with the Crusaderleaders about the price to be paid for transporting them to the East, a group ofhis Venetian diplomats were in Cairo planning a trade agreement with the Sultanand promising him that Venice would never countenance an expedition againstEgypt.[2] 

Soclose did the relationship between the two trading partners become that to someextent the Mamluks depended on Venetian naval strength to protect theircoastline, while in return the Venetians reserved 45% of all their investment inoverseas commerce for the Mamluk trade. Both the Egyptians and the Venetianswere merely the Mediterranean middle men in a far wider trading network thattransported the spices and luxury products of India, China and the Far East tothe emerging cities of Northern and Western Europe; but in the process bothgroups creamed off the massive profits which filled both Cairo and Venice withthe fine buildings which can still be admired in both today.

Inthe face of frequent Papal anathemas, the Venetians continued to sell theMamluks metals- especially gold, silver, tin and lead- woollens, linens, furs,coal and, somewhat surprisingly, hats. In return they carried to their wharfsand piazzas a huge range of spices, especially pepper, as well as pigments,pearls, precious stones and damasks. They also brought back thousands of thedazzling art objects with which this remarkable exhibition is so richly filled:luxurious carpets and velvets, gorgeous silk brocades and glass, porcelain andgilded bookbindings, illuminated Persian manuscripts and inlaid metalwork.

Diplomaticmissions between Venice and the Mamuks were common: the first room of theexhibition shows a wonderfully rich wall-size canvas of a Venetian embassyarriving in Damascus in 1511. The emissaries line up in their belted black robesand ermine against the backdrop of the great Ummayad Mosque and the projectingwooden kiosks, flat roofs and latticed windows of the Old City. Here they waitin line as their leader presents his credentials to the ruler like somepre-modern Nancy Pelosi, except that the ruler of Damascus then wore far moreexotic fan-like headware (known apparently as the "waterwheel turban")than is usually favoured by Bashir Asad, and Nancy Pelosi is not known to havetravelled to Damascus bearing large numbers of Parmesan cheeses, which seem tohave been the diplomatic gift most eagerly favoured by 16^th centuryMamluk governors; (nor indeed was she given in return "chickens, sweetmeatsand watermelons" as her Venetiancounterparts once were.)

Tohelp facilitate this mutually beneficial trade, there were permanent Venetianconsulates and large Venetian communities in all the principal Mamluk tradingcities- not just Cairo, but also Alexandria, Damascus and Aleppo (as well as,later in the Ottoman period, Salonica, Bursa and Istanbul.) Here visitingVenetians could find lodging, food, a church and even a public bath.

Itwas customary for young Venetian noblemen to be sent off to spend their teenageyears learning both Arabic and Persian, as well as the business of trade, in theVenetian trading settlements in the Levant and a number of Venetian doges, suchas the longest reigning of all, the fox-like Doge Francesco Foscari (r.1423-57), were actually born and grew up there. Doge Andrea Gritti (r.1523-1538) fathered three illegitimate children in his youth in Istanbul,one of whom later became the close friend of Suleyman the Magnificent’sGrand Vizier, Ibrahim Pasha. It wasin this way that a remarkable number of Arabic loan words (as well as some fromPersian and Turkish) entered Venetian dialect, including, significantly, theVenetian term for their gold ducats- zecchino-from the Arabic, sikka, a mint. Bythe same route much Islamic culture, philosophy, science, technology, as well asmore mundane recipies and remedies, tastes and ideas, all passed Westwardsthrough the mouth of the Venetian lagoon.

Inventoriesand wills left by these merchants show the degree to which they came toacclimatise themselves to their lives in the heart of the Muslim world: as wellas objects clearly brought from home such as harpsichords, "a songbook withall the sonnets of Petrach on parchment" and"a wardrobe from Padua painted in chiaroscuro for storing cloth," many moreare clearly of Levantine origin and indicate the trans-cultural and assimilatedlife lived by these Venetian expatriates: inlaid Islamic inkwells, pen boxes,pomanders and scales were all of local manufacture, as were the much-prizedMamluk carpets that Venetian craftsman tried and failed to imitate.

Thelater wills are also full of many items of Arabic dress which the Venetiansexplicitly asked to be allowed to wear in a treaty renegotiated with the Mamluksin 1442. According to the exhibition catalogue, a pair of long bright orangesilk Mamluk underdrawers once worn by a Venetian merchantapparently survive in Brussels, though these historic longjohns were not, alas,on show in the Met.

Specialistart historians have long been writing about the ways that Venice introducedMuslim ideas and material culture to Europe, most recently in Deborah Howardsmagnificent Venice & the East, reviewed in these pages by Hugh Honour [volume49, number 17, November 7th 2002.] Howard pointed out in particular the debtVenetian architecture owed to that of the Mamluks: even the great Doges Palacewas closely modelled on a Mamluk palace in Cairo, while the intricate anddistinctive key pattern on its outer façade appear to be derived from thebrickwork on Seljuk Turkish tombs and mosques. Many other major Venetian publicbuildings such as the Basilica of San Marco and the Fondaci del Tedeschi and deiTurchi, as well as hundreds of smaller houses and palaces, show the unmistakableinfluence of the Islamic world in their ogee windows and latticed grilles, theirrooftop platforms and covered balconies, their crenelations and theircourtyards, as well as in a more generalised love of colourful and elaborateornament and sculptural panels.

TheMet exhibition could not, of course, include architecture in its survey, atleast other than in paintings and photographs, but it makes up for this with areally astonishing display of moveable objects: never before has it beenpossible to see so many beautiful Islamic art works brought back by Venetianmerchants from East- and to see them immediately beside the objects theyinspired on arrival in La Serenissima.

Insome cases, Venetian craftsmen worked hard to produce straightforward copies ofIslamic objects: amazingly close imitations of Islamic inlaid metalwork werebeing made from the 11^th century onwards. More remarkably, the entireMurano glass industry, the quintessential Venetian art form which thrives tothis day, was born from imported Arab technology and began by slavishlyreproducing Fatamid and Mamluk designs, motifs, shapes and jewel-like colours-so much so that earlier generations of scholars wrongly believed much earlyVenetian work, especially that in enamelled glass, to be imported from Syria andEgypt.

Oneexquisite piece of Ayyubid painted glassware on show, formerly from a Venetiancollection, shows Christ entering into Jerusalem on the back of an ass, withdepictions of the Holy Sepulchre and the Dome of the Rock, all in an entirelyIslamicate style. It remains unclear whether the piece was of Christian Arabmanufacture; or perhaps was intended for visiting pilgrims or for export toChristian Europe; or whether quite simply, as the cabinet text notes "thedecoration reflects a cultural milieu remarkably unfettered by religiousboundaries."

Inother cases, the influence is more subtle: Islamic textiles clothe Renaissancevirgins in sumptuous brocades and damasks; madonnas stand holding the infantJesus in velvets fringed in kufic and skirted by borders of palmette andpomegranate patterns. Mamluk carpets with their rich reds, greens and blues,adorn the floors, walls and even the tables of Venetian family portraits.

Moreover,this influence was two-way flow of tastes and influences--a pragmaticinterpenetration and dialogue of civilisations: even as Venetian silks came tobe fashionable in Ottoman Turkey--as the catalogue notes, "surprisingly few ofthe fabrics or imperial caftans preserved in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul weremanufactured in Turkey; many can be identified as Italian,"-- so Islamic silksfrom Bursa were commonly being used for eccleciastical vestments in Venice: theexhibition highlights a spectacular silk chasuble decorated with designs of slimcedar trees resembling those in the finest Iznik porcelain.

Venetiansalso imported the latest in Islamic technology, as the fabulously intricatefourteenth century Mamluk astrolables on show demonstrate; long-forgottenancient Greek authors also reappeared via translations from the Arabic. Yetincreasingly, from the 17^th century onwards, the Venetians alsoexported their new discoveries Eastwards: the first printed Koran emerged notfrom an Arab but a Venetian printing press.

Indeedthe whole exhibition can be read as a subtle rebuke to those who like to see therelationship between the Christian and Islamic world exclusively andsimplistically in terms of jihads and crusades, clashes, violence anddestruction. There were certainly many belligerent interludes; but it wasclearly a more complex and multifaceted relationship than this, with contactpropelled partly by pragmatism and partly by mutual interest; by the fascinatedadmiration of scholars and the plagiarism of craftsmen; and by friendship andrivalry, as well as by diplomatic manoeuvring and war. Indeed as Deborah Howardargues in one of her two notably thought-provoking contributions to thecatalogue: