Abstract
This interdisciplinary study addresses the themes that were rarely circulating in the academic milieu, investigating the image-making practices of the Armenian mercantile class, utilizing art historical analysis, the concepts of patronage, intended audience, and purpose of artworks, also integrating such disciplines as semiotics, ethnography, and data analysis. By examining archival records, drawings, and engraving of non-Armenian sources, and the decorative objet d’art commissioned by and circulated via Armenian mercantile class networks, the research explores how visual representations served as instruments of social image construction and cultural negotiation, interrogating how Armenian merchants employed visual markers—such as attire, luxury goods, and hybrid artworks—to signify not only economic power but also their position within the intricate transregional trade networks developed due to Silk Road routes. Through semiotic analysis, the study decodes the symbolic value embedded in the visual lexicon of Armenian mercantile collective images, situating them within the broader context of status, commerce, and cross-cultural discourses. By comparative art-historical analysis, the research reveals the interrelations of the Armenian merchant imagery to those of other diasporic groups, illuminating the distinct ways in which the Armenians navigated issues of assimilation, social mobility, and economic exchange. In conclusion, the survey studying the mechanisms of image-making within the Armenian mercantile class network, which exploits transcultural commodities and activities, proposes a framework that could be further utilized by researchers to generate novel insights into the complex socio-cultural and commercial identities that are related to and emerge from, the active East-West interactions during the early modern period.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Armenian Merchant, Silk Road, Diaspora, Hybrid Artwork
