A History of Herat: from Chinggis Khan to Tamerlane By Shivan Mahendrarajah. xvi, 379 pp. Edinburgh Studies in Classical Islamic History and Culture, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2022.

Abstract

market for his paintings. The incoherence of the chapters combined with the overall brevity of the book suggests that its content may have been more effectively presented in the form of separate articles.It is furthermore sometimes easy to lose sight of the overarching arguments of the book given the great attention Yu devotes to asking questions with seemingly obvious answers. For example, the first chapter aims to understand whether the buildings represented in Xia's paintings were modelled on existing architecture; however, judging by their fantastic structures, it is immediately clear that they only give the impression of real buildings by combining standard elements such as pillars, brackets sets, and gable roofs. Yu eventually reaches the same conclusion (she calls the combination of elements a 'modular system'), but far less effort could have been spent on developing this argument. Much of the second chapter likewise involves trying to determine whether Wang Zhenpeng may have served as Xia Yong's direct master, as some scholars have suggested on account of the stylistic similarities in the artists' architectural representations, particularly in their use of the 'plain drawing' (baimiao 白描) technique. Yu ultimately refutes this claim based on a lack of textual evidence but, in the meantime, the reader encounters much more than is probably necessary about Wang Zhenpeng's already well-studied paintings and artistic circles.Painting Architecture provides an engaging and informative introduction to Yuan Dynasty jiehua. One of the greatest contributions of the book are the copious inscriptions and other historical records about painting that Yu has meticulously translated into English. These original texts, combined with the many paintings reproduced throughout the book, give readers a deep dive into the lives of artists working in the Yuan and into aspects of their artistic processes that are often absent in art historical scholarship. The book will be of interest to art historians wanting to understand what made jiehua produced during the period of Mongol rule so distinctive, as well to scholars interested in how politics shaped painting practices more generally.