Medieval And Early Modern Pottery 409
Genizah of Cairo, which reveal the fundamental role played by Tunisia and
its possessions (Sicily, part of Algiers, and Libya) in the distribution of prod-
ucts from India and other eastern areas, in the West. Meanwhile, the reloca-
tion of the Fatimid seat of government in the eleventh century contributed
to the transfer of the commercial fulcrum to Egyptian cities. From this mo-
ment on, Genoese and Pisan merchants, who had previously received stock
from Tunisian trading posts, notably lacked commercial mediators with the
East. Egypt and Syria became centers of distribution for Western products in
the East and of eastern products in the West, thanks to a deliberate policy that
favored the commercial exchanges adopted by the Fatimid.52 The presence of
great quantities of imported ceramic in Sardinia can be viewed as the reflec-
tion of the lively Mediterranean activity of merchants in Pisa and Genoa, cities
52 Shelomo D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society (Berkeley, 1967), vol. I, pp. 42–59.
Figure 15.16 Tunisian Cobalt and Manganese from Ardara
excavation (13th century).