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Secondary sourcePaintingc. 1410-1412

The Polo Brothers Receive a Paiza from Kublai Khan

Maître de la Mazarine and collaborators · c. 1410-1412

An early 15th-century manuscript painting showing the Polo brothers receiving a gold tablet, or paiza, from Kublai Khan's court.

This scene depicts the Polo family receiving authority from Kublai Khan's court, central to Marco Polo's story.

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Medieval painting of a seated, bearded ruler in a red chair on the left, and a standing man in white robes and a tall white hat holding out a flat tablet to two kneeling men in white robes on the right. Green patterned floor, white arched column at far right, blue sky behind.
Polo brothers at the court of Kublai Khan receiving a paiza, Livre des Merveilles, c. 1410-1412.

About this source

What it is

This miniature, from an early 15th-century manuscript of Marco Polo's travel book, shows Niccolò and Matteo Polo (Marco's father and uncle) kneeling before an official of Kublai Khan's court, receiving a paiza, a tablet granting safe passage and authority in Mongol territory.

Why it matters

This scene is a key moment in the Polo narrative: it shows the trust the Mongol court placed in the Polos and explains how they were able to travel safely through Kublai Khan's vast empire. The image, made about a century after the events, shows how important this episode remained to later readers.

Look closer

  • Why would a tablet like this matter for travelers crossing a huge empire?
  • What does the artist's choice of clothing and posture tell you about power and status in the scene?
  • How reliable can an illustration made generations later be as evidence of the actual event?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Marco Polo on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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