Table Of ContentRevised Edition: 2016
ISBN 978-1-280-13664-1
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - Introduction and History of Islamic Art
Chapter 2 - Islamic Calligraphy and Persian Miniature
Chapter 3 - Islamic Music and Arabic Music
Chapter 4 - Persian Carpet
Chapter 5 - Mughal Architecture
Chapter 6 - Taj Mahal
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Chapter 7 - Fatehpur Sikri
Chapter 8 - Humayun's Tomb
Chapter 9 - Red Fort
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Chapter- 1
Introduction and History of Islamic Art
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The Taj Mahal, Agra. Shah Jahan's 1648 memorial to wife Mumtaz Mahal, would, in
1983, be cited as "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired
masterpieces of the world's heritage."
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Embroidered panel, 18th to 19th century, from the Caucasus, possibly Karabagh. These
colorful textiles of the Caucasus region were a domestic art made for home use and local
commerce, and may have inspired the better-known Caucasian rugs made for export.
Textile Museum collections.
Islamic art encompasses the visual arts produced from the 7th century onwards by
people (not necessarily Muslim) who lived within the territory that was inhabited by
culturally Islamic populations. It includes fields as varied as architecture, calligraphy,
painting, and ceramics, among others.
Typically, though not entirely, Islamic art has focused on the depiction of patterns and
Arabic calligraphy, rather than on figures, because it is feared by many Muslims that the
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depiction of the human form is idolatry and thereby a sin against Allah, forbidden in the
Qur'an.
Overview
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Islamic art is not an art pertaining to religion only. The term "Islamic" refers not only to
the religion, but to the rich and varied Islamic culture as well. Islamic art frequently
adopts secular elements and elements that are frowned upon, if not forbidden, by some
Islamic theologians.
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Islamic art developed from many sources: Roman, Early Christian art, and Byzantine
styles were taken over in early Islamic art and architecture; the influence of the Sassanian
art of pre-Islamic Persia was of paramount significance; Central Asian styles were
brought in with various nomadic incursions; and Chinese influences had an important
effect on Islamic painting, pottery, and textiles."
There are repeating elements in Islamic art, such as the use of geometrical floral or
vegetal designs in a repetition known as the arabesque. The arabesque in Islamic art is
often used to symbolize the transcendent, indivisible and infinite nature of Allah.
Mistakes in repetitions may be intentionally introduced as a show of humility by artists
who believes only Allah can produce perfection, although this theory is disputed.
Human portrayals can be found in all eras of Islamic art. Human representation for the
purpose of worship is considered idolatry and is duly forbidden in Islamic law, known as
Sharia law. There are also many depictions of Muhammad, Islam's chief prophet, in
historical Islamic art.
History of Islamic art
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The beginnings of Islamic art
Before the Dynasties
The period of a rapid expansion of the Islamic era forms a reasonably accurate beginning
for the label of Islamic art. Early geographical boundaries of the Islamic culture were in
present-day Syria. It is quite difficult to distinguish the earliest Islamic objects from their
predecessors in Persian or Sassanid and Byzantine art. There was, notably, a significant
production of unglazed ceramics, witnessed by a famous small bowl preserved in the
Louvre, whose inscription assures its attribution to the Islamic period. Vegetal motifs
were the most important these early productions.
Influences from the Sassanian artistic tradition include the image of the king as a warrior
and the lion as a symbol of nobility and virility. The Bedouin tribal tradition represented
the geographically "native" artistic hegemony.
Coinage and metalwork were imported and used for trade with the Byzantines.
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Umayyad art
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Mosaics from the riwaq (portico) of the Great Mosque of Damascus
Religious and civic architecture were developed under the Umayyads, when new
concepts and new plans were put into practice. Thus, the “Arab plan,” with court and
hypostyle prayer hall, truly became a functional type with the construction of the
Umayyad Mosque, or the Great Mosque of Damascus (completed in 715 by caliph Al-
Walid I) on top of the ancient temple of Jupiter and in place of the basilica of St. John the
Baptist, the most sacred site in the city. This building served as a point of reference for
builders (and for art historians) for the birth of the Arab plan, as Byzantine Christian.
The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is one of the most important buildings in all of
Islamic architecture, marked by a strong Byzantine influence (mosaic against a gold
background, and a central plan that recalls that of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre), but
already bearing purely Islamic elements, such as the great epigraphic frieze. The desert
palaces in Jordan and Syria (for example, Mshatta, Qasr Amra, and Khirbat al-Mafjar)
served the caliphs as living quarters, reception halls, and baths, and were decorated to
promote an image of royal luxury.
Work in ceramics was still somewhat primitive (unglazed) during this period. Some
metal objects have survived from this time, but it remains rather difficult to distinguish
these objects from those of the pre-Islamic period.
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'Abd al-Malik introduced standard coinage that featured Arabic inscriptions, instead of
images of the monarch. The quick development of a localized coinage around the time of
the Dome of the Rock's construction demonstrates the reorientation of Umayyad
acculturation. This period saw the genesis of a particularly Islamic art.
In this period, Umayyad artists and artisans did not invent a new vocabulary, but began to
prefer those received from Mediterranean and Iranian late antiquity, which they adapted
to their own artistic conceptions. For example, the mosaics in the Great Mosque of
Damascus are based on Byzantine models, but replace the figurative elements with
images of trees and cities. The desert palaces also bear witness to these influences. By
combining the various traditions that they had inherited, and by readapting motifs and
architectural elements, artists created little by little a typically Muslim art, particularly
discernible in the aesthetic of the arabesque, which appears both on monuments and in
illuminated Qur'ān.
Abbasid art
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Luster-ware bowl from Susa, 9th century, today in the Louvre
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The Abbasid dynasty (750 A.D.- 1258) witnessed the movement of the capital from
Damascus to Baghdad, and then from Baghdad to Samarra. The shift to Baghdad
influenced politics, culture, and art. Art historian Robert Hillenbrand (1999) likens the
movement to the foundation of an "Islamic Rome", because the meeting of Eastern
influences from Iranian, Eurasian steppe, Chinese, and Indian sources created a new
paradigm for Islamic art. Classical forms inherited from Byzantine Europe and Greco-
Roman sources were discarded in favor of those drawn from the new Islamic hub. Even
the design of the city of Baghdad placed it in the "navel of the world," as 9th-century
historian al-Ya'qubi wrote.
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The Mosque of Uqba also known as the Great Mosque of Kairouan was founded in 670,
its actual aspect dates back to the 9th century.
The ancient city of Baghdad cannot be excavated well, as it lies beneath the modern city.
However, Samarra has been well studied, and is known for its extensive cultivation of the
art of stucco. Motifs known from the stucco at Samarra permit the dating of structures
built elsewhere, and are furthermore found on portable objects, particular in wood, from
Egypt through to Iran.
Abbasid architecture in Iraq as exemplified in the Fortress of Al-Ukhaidir (c.775-6)
demonstrated the "despotic and the pleasure-loving character of the dynasty" in its grand
size but cramped living quarters.
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Description:vegetal designs in a repetition known as the arabesque. The arabesque Vegetal motifs were the most important these early productions. Influences from the Sassanian artistic tradition include the image of the king as a warrior and the lion as He returned to Red Fort as a prisoner of the British. Z
