Mumia: Luxury Between Art and Medicine in Safavid Iran and Ottoman Turkey

Abstract Mumia, a kind of omnipotent panacea or simply cure-all drug, was a highly valued rare substance with a long and complex history that nevertheless fell into oblivion towards the end of the eighteenth century. From ancient times to the early modern period, a range of naturally found materials and substances related to the preservation of or parts of human and animal corpses have been associated with mumia, mummy, and related words. Used as a drug for a range of illnesses and conditions, in the sixteenth century mineral mumia extracted from mountains in Iran was believed to have extraordinary potency. This article examines a selection of sources that discuss mumia’s substance, collection, use, and exchange. A rediscovery of this material expands the vocabulary of early modern visual and material culture. More significantly, as a forgotten, non-global object, mumia also highlights the limits and the conceptual boundaries of that vocabulary.