Global Gifts: The Material Culture of Diplomacy in Early Modern Eurasia

Zoltán Biedermann, Head of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, has published his latest edited volume, Global Gifts: the Material Culture of Diplomacy in Early Modern Eurasia, with Cambridge University Press. This book explores the role that art and material goods played in diplomatic relations and political exchanges between Asia, Africa, and Europe in the early modern period. It establishes new parameters for the study of the material and aesthetic culture of Eurasian relations before 1800, exploring the meaning of artistic objects in global diplomacy and the existence of economic and aesthetic values mutually intelligible across cultural boundaries.