Sayyid-Ali Al-Zaidi is a doctoral candidate in Humanities at York University. His dissertation focuses on the history of European and American archaeological activities in the Near East from the late eighteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries and the reception of Mesopotamian and Egyptian art and Archaeology in Orientalist art. His research interests include Buddhist art from the Kushan Dynasty and its influences on Persian Art; Seljuk, Ilkhanate, and Timurid art and architecture; Chinese art and archaeology; and Islamic history.