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Washington University in St. Louis generously provided subvention funds for the publication. The final manuscript was revised and completed during a 2013–14 Getty Research Institute–National Endowment for the Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship with the theme “Connecting Seas: Cultural and Artistic Exchange,” during which my colleagues, who all specialized in cross-cultural contact, created the ideal intellectual environment in which to finish this book.

Of course, many others contributed as well. Seth Graebner has endlessly edited and advised this project, and his unwavering support has persisted throughout the many gritty moments that have attended its completion. Jess and Eli brought Qianlong’s experience with the young Prince Yongyan to life. Allison and Danielle made it physically possible to write. At University of Washington Press, Lorri Hagman, Tim Zimmermann, and Beth Fuget patiently shepherded me through the publication process. Matthew Williams of click! Publishing Services was a phenomenal and patient designer. Anonymous readers offered sage advice and detailed commentary, pointing out problems that I had vainly hoped to dodge and thereby improving this project immeasurably. I also gratefully acknowledge Ben Argyle, Thaddeus Law, Laura B. Whitman, Deanna Dalrymple, Jan Smarsik, Elisabetta Corsi, Marco Musillo, David Porter, and Anne Gerritsen, who provided support, advice, and inspiration at many points. Too numerous to name, many other friends and colleagues at Dartmouth and Harvard, in Beijing and both Cambridges, and in countries and cities around the world have contributed in various ways. You are not forgotten. With all the help I have received along the way, any failed illusions of correctness, completeness, and clarity in the text are mine.

This book is dedicated to the memory of Melanie Michailidis (1967–2013), a brilliant historian of Islamic art and architecture. Beginning at Washington University in St. Louis at the same time I did, she died tragically on February 1, 2013. Melanie profoundly affected me during the short time she was my friend. Professionally, she provided camaraderie and creative insight during the period of most intense writing; personally, she inspired so much more, and not a day goes by that I don’t think of her. This meager pile of paper is hardly the towering stone mausoleum in Samarkand that she deserves, yet I hope that it might still be the least of the monuments to her memory.