Islamic Art

Founding of Islam

What is Islamic Art?

• Western art historians have used this term to describe the variety of visual culture (ie. things we can see) created in the regions of the world that have at some time come under Muslim rule.

• Regions include (but are not limited to): Spain, India, Persia, the Middle East, North Africa, Mongolia, Afghanistan

Complexity and Balance

• The beauty and complexity of artistic achievement is meant to reflect the beauty and wonder of the world

• Common myth is that no animals or humans appear in Islamic art; in fact, in some periods and areas we see both of these things

High Points of Islamic Art:

• 8th to 10th centuries are renowned as a golden age for Islamic culture – especially in wealthy Umayyad, Abbasid and Fatimid caliphate

• Another highlight was the rule of the three greatest Mughal emperors, Akbar (1556-1605), Jahangir (1605-27) and Shah Jahan (1628-58) – in India

• Ottoman empire in present-day Turkey

Different regions and time periods

• Ummayad Caliphate – built Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem• Islamic Empires in Spain – invaded by the Ummayads -

(709 – 1614)• Mamluk Sultanate – capital was Cairo - (1250–1517) • Ilkhanid period- invasion of middle east by Mongols (late

13th century)• Abbasid Caliphate (Persia) – ca. 8th century to 1200,

followed by the Timurid and Safavid periods• Mughal Empire (northern India, Afghanistan, Pakistan)

1482 – 1867• Ottoman Empire (Turkey 1299 – 1908) – height of

Ottoman Empire was 1500-1700

Traditions in Islamic Art

• Three main branches of Islamic art:– Calligraphy and the art of the book – Vegetal Patterns (plants)– Geometric patterns

– -> These branches occur in all media: books, ceramics, glass, textiles, wood, architecture, metalwork, painting, etc.

Calligraphy in Islamic Art

• Calligraphy is the most highly regarded and most fundamental element of Islamic art.

• The Qur’an was transmitted in Arabic – the Arabic script has the potential for developing a variety of ornamental forms

• The practice of copying the sacred text of the Qur’an dates from the mid-7th century

• Scribes copied the words of the Qur’an in ever-increasing complexity

Early Islamic Calligraphy

Folio from “The Blue Qur’an”, probably Tunisia, 10th century

Early Calligraphy

Bowl in Chinese style, Abbasid Period, 10th century Iraq – one of the first examples using calligraphy as the main decoration

Kufic script

Bowl, 10th century Nishapur (Iran) or Samarkand (Uzbekistan) – use of Kufic script to enhance the shape

Mamluk Qur’ans

• The Art of producing illustrated manuscripts reached a new height in the 13th century under the Mamluks

Mamluk Qur’an. Egypt, 14th century, Chapter 7, al-A‘raf (The Heights), verses 88–89

Sultan Baybar’s Qur’an, Cairo, 1320

The art of the book – manuscript painting

• Artists and craftsmen throughout the Islamic world produced beautiful illustrated books to show important stories and histories of various dynasties, sultanates and caliphates

Ilkhanid manuscripts

• In the late 13th century, the Mongol kings converted to Islam and conquered much of what is now Iran and Iraq, as well as places in between.

• They wished to show that they were equal and culturally legitimate in the Islamic world, and did this by ordering the creation of a World History and the Book of Kings

Mongol Ruler, Ghazan, studying the Qur’an, an illustration from Rashid-ad-Din's Gami' at-tawarih. Tabriz , 14th cenury

Ilkahnid manuscripts

Nushirvan Eating food, 1330s

Buzurgmihr Masters the Game of Chess- Folio from the Shahnama (Book of Kings), ca. 1300–1330

Persian Miniature Painting

Persians continued to develop the Very sophisticated art of illustration

Mostly during the Timurid and Safavid periods

The most famous artist was Behzad or Bihzad, who worked in the late15th century in Herat (now in NorthernAfghanistan)

Illustrations of daily life, of rulers, of well-known stories, etc.

Iskhandar Sultan consults the wise man in the cave, 1550s

Persian miniature painting

Bath house scene, Timurid Period, by Behzad, made in Herat

Persian Miniature Painting

Khusrah Discovers Shirin bathing in a pool, 1550s

Mughal miniature painting

• the great emperors of the Mughal empire (16th - 19th centuries) in India -- Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan – all encouraged the production of these detailed paintings

• More interest in realism (note especially in the plants)

Mughal Miniature Painting

Babur Beg receives a courtier, 1589

Mughal miniature painting

Prince Khurram (Shah Jahan) with His Son Dara Shikoh: Leaf from the Shah Jahan Album, Mughal, period of Jahangir (1605–27), ca. 1620

Mughal miniature painting

Shah Jahan, 17th century

Taj Mahal

Geometry in Islamic Art

• See link at http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/geom/hd_geom.htm

Geometry

• The wonder of creation is reflected in the increasing complexity of patterns

• Islamic civilizations between the 8th and 15th centuries fostered great developments in mathematics, philosophy, science

• After the late 8th century, Euclid’s Elements had been translated into Arabic and had a great influence on Islamic mathematics

• While geometric ornamentation may have reached a pinnacle in the Islamic world, the sources for both the shapes and the intricate patterns already existed in late antiquity among the Greeks, Romans, and Sasanians in Iran. Islamic artists appropriated key elements from the classical tradition, then complicated and elaborated upon them in order to invent a new form of decoration that stressed the importance of unity and order.

• The four basic shapes, or "repeat units," from which the more complicated patterns are constructed are: circles and interlaced circles; squares or four-sided polygons; the ubiquitous star pattern, ultimately derived from squares and triangles inscribed in a circle; and multisided polygons.

Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem

Completed in 691 CE under Umayyad rulers

The Dome of the Rock Tilework, Jerusalem

Mamluk geometry

• The Mamluk period lasted from 1250-1517• Greatest empire of Medieval Islam, centred in

Cairo• Mamluk sultans built countless mosques,

palaces, madrasas, filled with complex geometric patterning

• known for geometric domes

Mamluk geometry

Tile Panel, Mamluk period, ca. 1250

Mamluk entry hall fountain, 13th century

Mamluk doors,

13th century

Alhambra Palace, Spain

Begun in 900, palace portion built in 1300s (14th century)

Alhambra Palace, Spain

Alhambra Palace, Spain

Alhambra Palace, Spain

Tesellation of ceramic tiles

Ilkhanid mosque, Iran, 14th century

Ilkhanid ceiling, Iran

Mughal period – Jali screen, 17th century

Vegetal Patterns

• Vegetal patterns include all patterns inspired by plants and flowers

• Inspired by motifs from earlier civilizations (Byzantine Empire), patterns increased in complexity

• Ottoman and Mughal Empire saw the most sophisticated vegetal patterns

The Alhambra, Granada, Spain

Tile with Phoenix, 13th c, Iklhanid Iran

Prayer Niche, Ilkhanid Iran, 13th century

Shah Mosque, Isfahan, Iran, 15th century

Ottoman Empire, Turkey

Tughra (signature) of Suleyman the Magnificent, ca. 1540

Ottoman Empire

Development of elaborate plant patterns, including tulips, carnations, roses

Fabric with wavy tulip pattern, Ottoman, 16th century

Ottoman Empire – Iznik Pottery

Vegetal patterns reached their height under the reign of Suleyman the Magnificent

Iznik pottery

Dish with cypress tree, Ottoman Empire, 16th century

Illuminated manuscript with a Shamsa (Rosette), Ottoman Empire, 16th century

Mughal Empire, India

Mughal carpet, ca. 1600

Folio from Mughal Pakistan, ca. 1650

Mughal Carpet with lily pattern, ca. 1600

Masjid Wazir Khan, Mughal Period, Lahore, Pakistan

Vegetal Patterns in Islamic Art

• See link at http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/vege/hd_vege.htm