As the title indicates, the book's focus is on Ottoman textiles and their connections to the Mediterranean and the wider Indian Ocean world. But it is more than that: this book follows in considerable detail the development of Ottoman textile types, the technologies used in their production, and the social and economic role of woven fabrics in the Ottoman Empire. Amanda Phillips takes the position that the importance of textiles as artistic and economic products has not been sufficiently appreciated by past researchers in the fields of both art history and history. As she rightly claims, “textiles were the second greatest exchange commodity in history, only grain moved in greater quantities.”

Phillips sets out to get the record straight. Her task requires considerable historical, technical, and linguistic expertise, and it is little wonder that few have attempted this mix of multiple disciplines. The story of Ottoman textiles involves a variety of fibers: wool, cotton, and flax were all used, but of foremost importance was silk. The book begins with a thorough technical discussion, first with the requirements of sericulture, and then with the history of weaving techniques that developed in Anatolia and the eastern Mediterranean. This leads the reader into complex textile structures, and this part of the book may challenge reader engagement. But, as Phillips argues, the structure of weaving is the foundation for understanding the artistic development of textiles in the Ottoman world.

The result achieved here is admirable, as the author focuses not only on the looms and weave structures, but also gives room for the role of the designer (the naksbend) who provides the pattern model. This links the textile designs to other works of art: to ceramics, metalwork, and works on paper. It places the complex weavings of the textile workshops firmly into the history of Ottoman art. The visual evidence is complemented by extensive analyses of legal documents inquiring into weaving regulations and, of course, digressions from them. These legal court documents provide a rich picture of workshop conditions, supply markets, and consumer demands. The most important information comes from the town of Bursa, at one time the Ottoman capital and the most important silk weaving center of the empire extending into the 18th and 19th centuries. But evidence also is presented from Constantinople and elsewhere: the training of apprentices, the movement of artisans, and the transmission of technical expertise can be followed in part at least through written documents. No previous discussion of Ottoman weaving has succeeded in providing such a comprehensive synthesis of visual and written documentation. The social or economic historians generally understood too little about the weaving process, and the textile specialists cared too little about the economic implications.

The story told here also often is one of displacement, as weavers’ communities were moved from Iran to Ottoman centers of production. The empire's expansion into eastern Europe, the Balkans, Hungary, and parts of Greece led to enslavement of young men who were brought to, for instance, Constantinople, to be trained as weavers. The conquest of the Mamluk rulers in Egypt and Syria expanded Ottoman dominance over the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. This came with the honor of sending a specially woven dressing for the Kaʿba, for the annual hajj, and the need to develop new designs suitable for the sacred requirements.

The relationship that developed between the Ottoman court and aristocracy and the city states of Italy, especially Venice, is well known and has been studied previously in considerable detail. Similar attention also has been given to the contacts between the Ottomans and their neighbors, the Safavids; although they were frequently at war with each other, their cultural exchanges were nevertheless significant. Phillips expands to horizons beyond the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf, into the Indian Ocean, and offers evidence for the importance of trade with India and of the textiles that were brought from South Asia into the Ottoman realm. She even argues that the lappet tabs that are a hallmark of Ottoman velvet cushions and hangings were likely an influence from Indian cotton fabrics, made in Gujarat and traded to Egypt from the 10th and 11th centuries onward. The lappets also were adopted in Mamluk embroideries, and then in the 16th century started to appear in Ottoman velvets (and embroideries).

This volume is impressive for its ambitious interdisciplinary analysis, and it is generally successful. This reviewer found the complementary presentation of visual material and historical documents from legal cases, inventory lists, and artisan movements especially compelling. I have a minor criticism regarding the heavy emphasis on loom and weaving techniques at the start of the volume. Although I agree with the author that technology is the textiles’ foundation, I would have suggested a lighter touch here, with much of the material moved into an appendix. Nevertheless, Phillips has offered us a new and vastly enriched picture of the Ottoman world, in which textiles have had a major role to play.