Siena on the Silk Roads
In the medieval period the town of Siena benefitted hugely from changes wrought by wars and migrations which impacted upon its geographical, cultural and economic situation. Rather than relying on domestic wealth of the wool-manufacturing trade- as Florence had- the Sienese took advantage of the “circulation of luxury goods stimulated in part by the Mongol integration of Eurasian markets.”[1] The leading circle of banking families in Siena who formed the “financial body” known as the Biccherna, turned their eyes towards the Silk Roads which promised trade and economic prosperity for their city. This would include the importation of Chinese silk which by 1250 was being traded in Genoa, Lucca, and Tuscany from Ayas in Armenian Cilicia via Sivas and Tabriz in Iran.[2] Though it might be optimistic to assume established links between Siena and the Mongol empire, what Prazniak terms “cultural traces” might be looked for in the context within which leading painters like Ambrogio Lorenzetti operated. Some justification for this is due to the fact that not only did Lorenzetti paint the famous murals in the Palazzo Pubblico- which might betray “cultural traces”-; but also he devised the Mappomondo previously on display in the Mappomondo Room which might represent Siena’s position relative to the rest of the world.[3]
[1] Roxann Prazniak, “Siena on the Silk Roads: Ambrogio Lorenzetti and the Mongol Global Century 1250-1350,” Journal of World History, Vol. 21, No. 2 (June 2010), 177-217, 178.
[2] Ibid, 179.
[3] Ibid, 180.
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